Mo the Merrier: August 2010

SHREK!

Or as Ava would like to say, "Shhhhhuurrrrrr"!!

In this household, any Shrek movie and anything Shrek related is usually followed by high pitched screams of joy, clapping, fist pumping, and just plain ol' SHHHHUUURRRRRR!!!! For some crazy reason, our precious little daughter is OBSESSED with Shrek. Not only can sit still the entire length of the movie, she can pick out any Shrek related merchandise at the store. This typically translates to Ava screaming in the store because Mommy didn't see her put the Puss-In-Boots lunchbox or the Princess Fiona notebook in the shopping cart and we have to give it back to the cashier before check-out...

We've tried borrowing a slew of different videos for Ava at the library - Elmo, The Little Mermaid, Mickey Mouse, Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Aladdin, Sesame Street, etc- which she has an attention span of about a minute. But with Shrek....Kent and I can get a good hour and a half of complete and utter silence. We try not to abuse this power, but my God has it come in handy in times of need (i.e. mommy/daddy needs a nap while Ava sits nicely in bed and watches it on the portable DVD player).

Anyways, this morning's cool and wet weather brought with it a cozy Fall feel that we had to break in with pajamas and a movie. And what else would we watch for two fabulous, quiet hours??? Shhhhuuurrrrr!!!!

'Shhhurrr' for Ava = Mommy caught up on blogging. Sheer bliss I tell you.

Too quiet and had to sneak a peek

Oh, and a BIG THANK YOU to Shellie and Peyton for the Shrek talking toy. She likes to give him a kiss when she rises in the morning and before she goes to bed at night. It's her very own rosary that she clutches with a death grip. In fact, she'll have him during her 18 month vaccination shots for strength. Bet that'll be a first for the nurse....ha!

Who's Da Man?

I nearly had a heart attack when a leak sprung in our kitchen sink faucet last night, in the exact same spot it leaked in January, which left us without the use of the kitchen sink for over a month. Not fun. And with a lifetime guaranteed sink/faucet, one would think that that would make it much easier to fix right? ONE WOULD THINK....

Previously, the manufacturer sent us PDF files of an intricately drawn faucet (imagine architectural drawings) and mailing us -hit or miss- random nuts and bolts that took 5-7 business days to arrive. Which is why this second leak almost brought on a heart attack since fixing it the first time was a nightmare.

The last time it leaked, I was able to fix it myself after many hours of tinkering, praying to God, and just sheer luck of banging the right place with a hammer. Seriously. I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but it miraculously worked. For eight months at least :).

And after two hours of tinkering last night, to no avail, I panicked. I did not want to go through a month without a kitchen sink again. HELL NO. This time, I was willing to pay the plumber $200/hour to get the thing fixed. And yes, plumbers are now apparently charging the same hourly rate as a surgeon these days. Eitherway, I did not want to be out of commission in my kitchen again and Kent agreed to getting it fixed quickly in lieu of my pending heart attack.

Well, I woke up this morning with the intent of calling plumbers for a price quote only to see this:

A completely fixed and functioning faucet, that was shiny and clean. And eggs. And coffee. And all the under-the-sink stuff put neatly away. WOW. I almost had another heart attack. Kent apparently got up at the ass crack of dawn and did all this without a peep. He just left a little sign for me afterwards, and you know what Kent, YOU'RE THE MAN! Forget flowers, dinner, or gifts; fixing the sink made my day/week/year. Thank you. *tear*

Hello, Toddler

Ava got her very first haircut yesterday - ala Suri Cruise - and if I do say so myself, she looks absolutely ADORABLE. In fact, she looks older. Like a real toddler. Sigh. She's been sporting a mess on her head for some time now and I finally gave in when her bangs started to obstruct her vision and I found myself constantly swiping her hair to the side. I didn't realize how long her hair had gotten until she got it cut. I was contemplating on doing it myself at home, but it was her first haircut, and sentimental as I am to not botch 'her first haircut', we asked friends for their suggestion on where to go and it was unanimous that we should go to Pigtails and Crewcuts. So we went. And boy are they good.

The place is totally geared toward young children and it's no wonder why Ava sat so nicely in her seat the entire time. They had a fabulously fun airplane chair for her to sit in, played Shrek for her (her favorite, upon special request) on the big screen, and gave her animal crackers. She was in heaven! Without further adieu, here is our little big girl!

Before -scrappy 'do hair that was perpetually in pigtails

Side view, with help from Mocha the kitty to distract her

Flying the plane

Suiting Up

SHREK!!!

Eating, naturally

Whaddayathink? Suri-ish?

Take home souvenir - so cute!

They even put her hair in a little keepsake pouch

Sliding Down to Graduation

Officially a Blowfish

Ava successfully graduated from her level 2 swim class (the Blowfish) last week Thursday. This level really let her get into the basics of swimming and she had a great time doing it. Upon graduation, the babies/parents have to go down a water slide. Ava also did this for her level one course, but the slide seemed so much higher this time around. Regardless, our little swimmer and Daddy went down the slide three times and she is now officially a Blowfish! (Video of the slide down will be in the next post.)

At the top of the slide

Good job Ava!

Playing in the pool afterwards

Content and eating a snack (of course) on the way home

Spring & Summer Adventures

Since we've been absent from the blog for some time now, I had the motherload of pictures to upload - not fun. I sifted through all our photos and tried to pick the best ones to make the upload process quicker. This is just some highlights from the first part of Spring/Summer. We had family visit in May, which was an entire adventure in itself, but I'll have to add those later. Enjoy!

At the Park on Valentines Day (she still has her babyness). Kent and I thought it would be nice and relaxing to do a hike at Washington Park with Ava for Valentines, and halfway through, it began to downpour. This is before the hike and before mommy had to run 3 miles to the parking lot to get the car to pick up Ava and Daddy! No worries though, I didn't have to put in my run that day :)