Sunday, April 18, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Tower-building maniac

Are you kidding me with this?  Look at this tower.  Clearly advanced, right?  Seven blocks tall and counting.

Check out the design aesthetic.  Very avant garde.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Suzy Homemaker

On Ava's first birthday we sat her down to have "the talk" about her freeloading ways.  Now that she's upright, we expect her to pull her own weight.

Oh man, was she upset.


We were hoping she would start taking out the trash. Instead, she took it upon herself to become mother to her stuffed animals.  Here she is tucking them in for bed.


With more than 20 stuffed animals, there are a lot of mouths to feed.  Some of them are larger than Ava and it can be a full-time job keeping their bellies full.  On this particular occasion it took her 15 minutes to feed the sun bear.


With so many house chores, Ava has little time for recreation.  When she does set foot outdoors, she always finds there's more work to be done.  Here's our little green thumb in training.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Ava's Fourteenth Month

While every month we marvel at how much Ava grows (mentally and behaviorally more so than physically), sadly, this seemed to be the month that Ava quit being our baby and started being a toddler.  She points at smaller kids and calls them babies, rocks and shushes her doll, and pats us on the back when she hugs.  We also think she swears a bit but there's honestly so much stuff coming out of her mouth, it's hard to tell.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Daddy's Little Girl

For 13 years (count 'em!), Helen has been attempting to get out of Brian's pilgrimages to the forest with her constant mid-hike complaints.  Finally, Brian has found his ideal hiking partner--a little lady who is overwhelmed by her enthusiasm for the outdoors.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Ava Dictionary

Ava's vocabulary at 1 year:

All done
Ava
Baby
Back
Ball
Balloon
Bath
Bird
Bottle
Book
Bubble
Bucket
Bye-bye
Cat
Cracker
Daddy
Dog
Down
Duck
Happy
Hi
Jacket
Mama
Me
More
Night night
Nummy
Okay
Owie
Shoe
Sit
Socks
Ta (Thank you)
Take it
Uh-oh
Up
Up-down
Walk
Wow wow wow

Cleanin' Up Real Good

Ava: workin' it H to T.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Ava's Thirteenth Month

This was another big month for Ava!  She had her first birthday party (complete with emotional high chair meltdown during the happy birthday song), enjoyed a family vacation on the coast, and adjusted to her first day at a new school.

To top things off, while the rest of the country was buried in snow, the sun came out in Portland and we visited the zoo.  Ava petted a few goats, growled at the cougar, made chimp noises when she saw the Mandrills, and looked appropriately freaked out when she came face-to-face with a real elephant.  Looks like she'd make it out there in the wild.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Ava's Twelfth Month - Happy Birthday Ava!

As we sang "Happy Birthday" to Ava tonight, she replied "Happy, happy, happy."  We can't imagine a better birthday present than that.



The 12 Days of Ava - Day 12!!!!

On the twelfth month of Ava...


Sunday, January 17, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 11

On the eleventh month of Ava...


Saturday, January 16, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 10

On the tenth month of Ava...


Friday, January 15, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 9

On the ninth month of Ava...


Thursday, January 14, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 8

On the eighth month of Ava...


Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 7

On the seventh month of Ava...


Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 6

On the sixth month of Ava...


Monday, January 11, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 5

On the fifth month of Ava...


Sunday, January 10, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 4

On the fourth month of Ava...

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 3

On the third month of Ava...

Friday, January 8, 2010

The 12 Days of Ava - Day 2

On the second month of Ava...