In the blink of an eye....

I received a very big lesson tonight. How quickly things can happen...

Ava and I got home tonight after running some errands. I parked the car as normal and went and got her out of her car seat. She usually runs right to her Barbie car. I grabbed a bag out of the front seat, walked it into the house, and went back to the garage. 20-30 seconds tops. But it was long enough for my poor little girl to have her ball roll under my car and her deciding to go and get it. Long enough for her to burn her back on the still hot tailpipe. :(

I thought she skinned it at first because it was a little dot the skin was missing. But then I realized what happened when she said "Mama car hot". I ran her into the house and put a cool washcloth on it. I called every person in a 20 mile radius (sobbing) to come and see it. Majority vote told me to take her in to help prevent infection and make sure it is cleaned properly.

So, we made a trip the ER tonight. She did GREAT!!! So well, in fact, she got McDonald's french fries and stickers!!

































And here is the boo-boo. The Dr. said it shouldn't scar, but she may have a slight skin pigment change.

I turned my back for not even a minute and this happened. I truly believe that Mama's guilt may be the worst feeling EVER. I know it wasn't my fault, but I'm a mess.

She is being a trooper though. She isn't complaining too much. She's actually asleep in my bed. Daddy is working nights and I think Ava (meaning: me) needs extra snuggle time.

Love,

S.

Holly and Hannah

Holly and Hannah are the neighbor girls. Ava ADORES them. I ADORE them. They ADORE Ava. It's just a good combination. It all works.

Every morning when we leave, we drive past their house. Ava always says "Bye, Holly! Bye, Hannah!" It's so sweet.

I found out the other night that Hannah took a picture of Ava to school to hang in her locker. Isn't that awesome?

And not to mention how much I love and appreciate them. I can call them anytime to watch her. They've come over so I can shower, so I can run to the store, and not to mention the text messages at the games to get Ava popcorn. They take her to walk around when she is bored and even come over without being asked...just to hang out with her!

How blessed are we to have these awesome girls next door? I know, pretty darn blessed!!

This is a bad picture because of the sun and I took it with my phone.

Thank, Girls!! The Houghtaling's love ya!!

Hope you have a great weekend!

S.

One Year Ago -- TA

One year ago today I walked into work, opened my email and saw these words:

TA on it's way!

I hope you don't mind the next month and a half...it's going to be filled with memories of a bunch of One year Ago's! I can't believe we are coming up on our 1st Family Day Anniversary. But then, I can't remember life before her. Hasn't she always been here?

I leave you with this smiling face...




















Man, I love this girl!
Love,
Ava's Mama

All Girls Weekend!!

Before I start on the weekend, I have to share something. I've been wanting to put it out here for awhile, but I was afraid to actually say the words. It's official....she's POTTY-TRAINED!!! She has been for awhile and we were still doing pull-ups at night. We finished out the pack 2 nights ago and she's been dry at night for over a month! So proud of my girl!!! And thank goodness for M&M's!

This weekend John went backpacking, so it was an all girls weekend. I'm always sad to see the weekend end, but this one even more. We had too much fun!!

We started Friday night at the Genoa football game. You know I'm officially a fan when I go without a boy. :)

We went home afterward and toasted the 55-0 victory over Fostoria. Way to go Comets!!

We got up Saturday and were out the door by 9am! Genoa had their annual street fair. We picked up Nana and walked downtown Genoa. Of course, I forgot to take my camera.

After the street fair, I dropped Ava and Nana off at Nana's. I ran and did some errands and shopped.

We stopped on the way home and picked up a $5 pizza. I decided to have a picnic dinner in the living room. (SHhhh...don't tell Daddy). I wasn't too worried, Ava is actually a pretty clean eater. I'm proud to say after the weekend, no spills! Ava thought it was so cool to eat in the living room. She asked to do it the rest of the weekend!

After dinner, we cleaned up and got in our jammies. I decided to surprise her with a slumber party! I pulled all the blankets off the beds and made a big bed on the floor. We popped popcorn and snuggled up to watch The Muppets Take Manhattan. I LOVE that movie and it was such a nice treat after so much Elmo!

She LOVED it! She watched the entire movie. I couldn't believe it. But she was in dosing mode towards the end when (SPOILER, (LOL)) Miss Piggy and Kermit get married. Until she saw the Sesame Street cast was at the wedding! She was so happy to see Ernie.

She passed out pretty quickly after the movie was over. I ended up on the couch because I'm not as resiliant as her. My back was killing me! :)

This morning when we got up, I cleaned out my coupon binder, made my grocery list for week, packed up Ava's summer clothes, and got her fall clothes out. Whew...

After lunch and nap, we headed to Morgan Feather's soccer game. Here she was when we first got there:

It must be a pretty tiring sport! LOL! She ended up doign really well and even scored a goal while we were there!!

After the soccer game, we went to visit my Grandma and then headed to dinner with our friend, Michelle. A much needed trip to El Camino. We had a great time! Thanks for the invite, Michelle!!

Ava adores her!! She just kept hugging her. So cute!!

What a fabulous weekend!! But I'm a tired one...off to bed! And Daddy comes home tomorrow!! YEA!!

Hope you had a great weekend, too!!

Love,

Sara and Ava

Chopsticks

Last week in the Shanghai Yahoo group, there was conversations around chopsticks. Many parents were questioning if their child would be using chopsticks and at what age to they start to show them? To be honest, we never thought about it. We always just used forks and spoons with Ava.

Fast forward a week...today we had Chinese food at work. After I grabbed my fork, I decided to grab a set of chopsticks for Ava. Curious, but thinking she would just like to play with them.

I handed them to her and she proceeded to eat her goldfish with them and then picked all the meat of her pizza with them. Apparently, she HAS used them before. I had no idea. And it was so adorable and she so proud of herself. LOL!!

So funny!!

Love,

S.

Colors

Ava is having a hard time retaining her colors. We actually thought she may be color blind. But apparently at school she is able to pass the tests. She simply cannot retain which is red and which is blue, etc.... So, John and I have been making an effort daily to spend at least some time every night on her colors.














Any suggestions from the blog world??
Thanks in advance!
S.

Football, Birthday, and Reunion!! Whew....

Friday night the Comets were at Port Clinton, so we loaded up the car and headed east. We pulled off another win with a score of 57-0! Way To Go, Comets!!

Ava made some new friends and had an absolute blast with them! They brought cow bells (we're from Genoa, remember?) with them and they let her play with them. It completely kept her busy through the 3rd and 4th quarter.


















Saturday morning, she headed to Nana's for the rest of the weekend. She was so excited to take her backpack full of goodies!


















John and I headed to Medina. He had his 3oth class reunion and it just happened to fall on his mom's 94th birthday! I felt bad about Ava missing Gram's party, but we couldn't take her to the reunion with us.

Happy Birthday, Gram!




























All of John's brothers made it to the party!














Family picture!! I was behind the camera.

























After the party, we put on our party clothes and headed to John's reunion. Here he is with his 2 best friends from high school. I'll have to find the picture of them from right after graduation. It's hilarious!!

Lloyd, John, and Greg














Lloyd's wife, Sandra and myself














The only picture of us from the night. Self portrait while we were outside waiting on our DD.














I actually wasn't the best on Saturday. I'm 99% sure I had my first migraine. I have never had pain like that in my head. After some major resting and over the counter migraine medicine, I was able to make it through the day. And woke up headache free today!

Now, we are off to my dad's for dinner! Hope you are having a great weekend!!

Love,
S.

Gymnastics

We started Ava in gymnastics at the YMCA. Last week was the first week. That probably wasn't the best time to start since she was getting over being sick. The first class wasn't very successful.

Here was Ava's class:



















And here was Ava:














She jumped on the trampoline and completely ignored the class. LOL!

And tonight...completely different! We talked about it after school and the whole way there. We talked about listening to Miss Tori and spending time with her friends. She did so well!!!

Yea!! We were so proud! Now....on to swim lessons. She missed last week because of the ear infections but I know she'll be great!

Love,
S.

Everybody's ZOOing It!!

We have had a low key, quiet, yet FUN weekend!!

Friday night, we roasted at the Genoa football game...It was so HOT! We were all super sweaty, but the Comets won!! Whoop, whoop!!

Saturday was spent in jammies watching football and cleaning out closets. I went through Ava's clothes to see how she is for fall and winter. Yea, she's ok. TONS of clothes! Guess that's a good thing about a summer birthday. It sets you up for fall.

Saturday night, we showered and shipped Ava to Nana's for awhile. Mama and Daddy enjoyed a quiet dinner out followed by a trip to the store. Thanks, Nana!!

Sunday, we decided to have a family day and spent it at the zoo! Ava definitely liked it more this time than last time I took her last year. However, she doesn't really like to move on. She didn't quite understand there was so much more to see. But the monkeys...yea, that was a different story. She LOVED them and literally SCREAMED "I want monkeys" through the entire zoo on the way to the car. Oh, and did I mention it was pouring down rain at this time??

Yes, we were THAT family. No umbrella, getting soaked...with a very TICKED off 3 yr. old who wanted nothing but monkeys. Looking back at it, I'm cracking up!!

Here are our pictures:





























































Love this picture...Our little lion cub.

We almost made it back before the rain, but...

We went home and took naps and revived ourselves and ventured out one more time!! The DRIVE-IN!

We took Ava to see the Smurfs! We loaded up the sleeping bags and pillows, put the back seats down and snuggled! Well, for a little bit until Ava found her Elmo Potty Time DVD and wanted to watch that instead.

Hope you weekend was just as great!!

Love,
S.