Watch me go!!

This is probably Ava's favorite toy right now. She loves to crawl under and through it but sometimes gets stuck because she can't figure out how to back up out of it. It's also pretty easy to stand up next to and reach the toys on top. I personally like this toy because if its used as it was originally intended it keeps her stationary long enough for me to shower! A big thanks to Austin for letting us borrow his exersaucer!

Rain, rain, go away!

Ava and I made a trip down to Hawarden for lunch with Grandma Theresa today. We went to visit Grandma at work and then we three went over to Grandpa Marv's work to see him. Did I mention that everyone seemed to know exactly who Ava was, everywhere we went? It seems she's somewhat famous in Hawarden! The ladies at Grandpa's work said that he'd just brought pictures in earlier this week but getting to see Ava in person was way more fun! Ava was able to visit Grandma's co-workers and was even invited back behind the counter to work in the drive-up with Grandma. Ava was introduced to everyone and once in a while Grandma remembered me, Ava's chauffeur and wet nurse. So I started introducing myself as "Chopped Liver" or "The Girl formerly known as Daughter-in-Law" or "Ava's Mom". hahaha

It rained all stinking day so we didn't make it into our favorite shops in Downtown Hawarden. I'm not really a fan of damp weather though my short new haircut stands it remarkably well. It doesn't phase Ava because both her carseat and stroller have great canopies so between them and the blankets I throw over her she just thinks its a game of Peekaboo.

Ava's new kitchen

Jeff and I finally put up a backsplash in the kitchen and I thought that Ava would be the best one to model it. As you can see, she was pretty excited to be up on the counter and happy to share our "new" kitchen with you! Or maybe she was just thrilled to be up on the counter. :)

Four Teeth and Crawling!

This weekend Ava must have decided that enough was enough and this was her time to crawl. She may not be going all the way across the room on her hands and knees but she's definitely making progress. Sometimes she gets pretty excited by the simple act of getting onto her hands and knees and starts rocking back and forth, bopping her head to her own snappy music. She knows she's hot stuff. :) Only when it comes time to make a beeline for the newspaper or someone's smelly shoe does she drop to her tummy and goes into the old army crawl. She's got that move down and makes good time traveling that way. I think that she especially likes the laminate flooring because she's pretty darn speedy on that slick surface. It is much better than the carpet that I guess just slows her down.

Another tooth came in last week so for those of you keeping track that makes Tooth Number Four, two on the bottom in the front and two on the top (we call those her fangs). Ava doesn't quite understand why people are now so unwilling to let her gnaw on their fingers when it didn't seem to be a problem just a few short weeks ago. But she's been so good as they've come in and we can only hope the rest are this easy. She's finding lots of things to teeth on, have I mentioned that one of her favorite chew toys is the bar stools for our island counter? Yep, she's an equal opportunity chewer.

Our Family Portrait

Portraits of Ava and Company

We got our family portrait taken yesterday and the pictures are awesome! Thank you, Ellen and Nadya! My sister Ellen and our friend Nadya took the pictures of all of us last night in the "studio" aka Nadya's kitchen. Will, Pete, and Max were all present to help entertain Ava and make her smile. Jeff and I would alternate holding small children up behind the photographer to make Ava laugh (Will & Max weren't quite sure what to think of being photo props). Here are some of the results.

Any laces in those shoes?

Ava has discovered shoe laces and boy does she love them! She loves to pull on them but its even better if you let her get them in her mouth. She spent some time by her Uncle Levi's feet on Sunday untying his laces and today was at Great Grandma Sundermann's feet tugging on hers. I believe that I have already mentioned how much she loves to chew on shoes, right? If she's anything like her mother then this love for shoes will only get her into trouble in future years! (Who says 11 pairs of flip flops is too many???)

Tooth Number Three is definitely on its way, we can see it just under the surface. She's still doing really well but she's convinced that this teething process entails her to wake Mommy for some middle of the night comfort food. Ah, well, if she's going to keep up such a good attitude during the day I guess we can live with getting up once in the night. Of course this weekend when she spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa Kingma she slept through the night with no problem. :)