Is it time for dress-up? Already?

Is that angelic little person the next Mother Theresa? Possibly. But around this split foyer she's our baby Ava who is swiftly becoming a little girl and seems to be playing dress up. Somedays it is a cloth napkin that she finds on the floor in the dining room, other days it's a hand towel from the kitchen or maybe a piece of scrap fabric from a purse I was sewing. Whatever it is she either drapes it over her head or around shoulders and looks at me as if to say, "Don't I look so lovely?" On Friday evening I zipped her into this super cute blue and white "party dress" and she went right to the mirror and twirled in front of it. She twirled!! Then she went off in search of some shoes to complete the outfit. I'm not kidding. THIS is definitely my child. There are times I wonder but not this time, not when it comes to playing dress-up. Ask my Aunt Louise or my sister Ellen, either can tell you about my billions of wardrobe changes and lack of commitment to any one outfit in a given day.

I should tell you that the towel on top of her head is also good for playing the, "Where's Ava?" game that she loves. So, it isn't always about dress-up. :)

Ava's best bud

Have you met Maggie? She's our very good friend and neighbor across the street. Mary Lou, Maggie's mom, and Maggie make Ava light up and squeal such happy squeals that only Jeff's homecoming everyday can match. We'll be outside in the lawn playing and Mary's blue jeep will come down the road and we'll hear "We're coming, Ava!" coming through the SUV's open windows and towards us across the street. Into the driveway they go and out the door of the Jeep jumps Maggie and she's running towards Ava, who is running towards her! Ava loves to show off for on her Barbie 4-wheeler for Mary and Maggie or to "confer" with Maggie about some bug or rock on the ground. We love them and can't imagine how we got so lucky with them as neighbors, and friends.

Father's Day with the Farley's

We spent Father's Day in Beresford with some of our Farley family members. What a gorgeous day! We all hung out on the lawn and the girls were entertained all afternoon by Grandma Lucy's little wagon.


Pictured here are: Aunt Mary and Ava, Landry and the girls, Lucy and me, Annie, Jeff and Grandpa Marv. Poor Jeff, even on Father's Day he couldn't catch a break! He brought down a new storm door for Grandpa Earl and installed it as his Father's Day gift to him. (He didn't seem to mind plus he had lots of help from Lucy and Landry and Grandpa Marv.)

I think that we need to invest in a wagon like Grandma's because it had a cute little door on the side and Ava LOVED climbing in and out of it. The three girls could all squish themselves into the wagon at once and then would want us to pull them down the block and back. But mostly they were happy just playing their own games with the wagon sitting in the shade in front of the house.

Ava loves Malory and Ethan!

We have been having such a fun summer with Malory and Ethan at our house a couple times a week! Ava LOVES to have them around and they love her. Ethan is always showing her good places to "hide" and he dances with her to her fridge d.j. without fail.

Malory is my helper and likes feeding Ava her breakfast or lunch. She is also a French Chef and makes delicious meals on her kitchen on our back deck. (I am pretty sure Ethan is the Chief Dishwasher.) Ava just follows the two of them wherever they go, imitating every move and every word.

Yesterday we made the mistake of using the new Crayola Sidewalk Paint on our walk in front of the house. Beware! It's fun but it stains! We had a really hard time getting it off the concrete. There are still some spots that are a faded neon pink. So much for "removing with water"!

Ava and Isaac

We got to meet a new friend last Saturday. Isaac Braaton is the son of my friend Elizabeth. They were home in Sioux Falls visiting from Oregon and we were able to spend a few days playing with them. Elizabeth's mom Wendy has been my mom's friend since they were in grade school so I have known Elizabeth for as long as I can remember. It was neat to see our kids playing together, especially since they were so very happy together!

Isaac is just 6 months older than Ava and the two played so well and were utterly adorable together. Ava kept giving Isaac hugs and kisses. But they were also sort of fighting over this chair and at one point trying to run each other over with Ava's doll stroller. :)

We went up for supper at my mom and dad's on Tuesday and both kids loved playing fetch with the dogs. Isaac was really good at taking the tennis ball from Tom (Dad's dog you see in the pic) and throwing it. Ava liked watching but didn't need to get too close to the dogs. She likes petting them but only their rear or side. If they are facing her she keeps her hands to herself. Scary teeth, I guess.

Never mind the girl behind the curtain...

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent some time at the campground here just outside of Brandon on Memorial Day weekend. Jeff took our camper over on Friday night and stayed but Ava and I just visited because we were both a little under the weather. Speaking of the weather, it wasn't so great. Note the heavy clothes and hats. But we had fun despite the rain. Here are some pics of our family and then some of Ava and Austin Studenski coloring in the camper and Ava,Wendy and Malory cuddling by the fire. Ava thinks camping is great because there are rocks EVERYWHERE! Plus little kids to follow around and so much to see at the campsites. We're hoping for warmer weather for our next camping trip but this year all weather bets are off!

Ava can read!

I was able to catch Ava reading a book today. She's reading a "Peter Rabbit" colors and shapes book and I swear she says "Peter Rabbit" at the beginning of the video. I'm sure it probably was just jibberish but let's just pretend she says it.

We want to wish Jackson Paul Anema a Happy first Birthday today! And Happy Birthday to my brother, Luke! And belated happy birthday to Samantha Leigh!! We love you!!

Look who came to visit!

We were so happy to have Uncle Roy and Auntie Erica home for TWO weeks to visit all of us here in South Dakota! Levi and Erica got to go out to the Black Hills where Erica saw Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial for the first time. They went with my parents and had a great little vacation within their vacation. They came for Zac's High School graduation (Congrats, Zachary!!) and stayed till the last weekend in May.

Erica, Ava and myself spent a day together hanging out while Levi was busy doing something else. Poor Erica had to "babysit" both of us as I had woken up on Memorial Day Monday not being able to turn or tilt my neck to the left. Ouch! So she drove us straight to the Chiropractor on Tuesday and then drove us around doing some errands and then lunch after the chiro. Despite a stiff neck it was nice getting to visit with Erica. I wish that we could see more of them! And they couldn't believe how much Ava had grown in the 10 months since they had last seen her! She had gone from a baby to a toddler, hardly rolling over to running all over!

Our Future Dordt Student

Is Ava going to follow in Auntie Amy and Uncle Paul's footsteps? She's got the right sweatshirt so I guess we'll see where the future takes her. We think that she's college material, she's smart as a whip and a real social butterfly. Our neighbor and friend, Mary Lou, told me one day, "I'm sorry, Kari, but I REALLY believe that Ava is extremely smart! I can't get over the things that she does! When I was watching her one day she was looking at a magazine and would lick her fingers to help her turn the pages! She was really doing it!!" I told Mary Lou she didn't need to apologize, we think Ava's very intelligent, too. :) I mean, she is my child, right? (HaHaHaHa)

Why do you have to play in the cabinet?

Here's the lazy susan cabinet in the corner of the our kitchen. And here is the little girl who discovered it has no lock to keep her out.

Who, me? You mean you don't want me in here???

Oh, silly! Of course I'm playing in here! It's my newest hideaway! Plus it has snacks!
Okay, I'll humor you and get out. For the moment. But I'll be back in 15 seconds when you have turned away and gone back to your work, Mom.

Such a fierce one!

Today Ava was standing in the middle of the living room, minding her own business chewing on something and pointing the stereo remote at the television. Of course, I had to go out of my way to get in her face and irritate her with questions like, "What's in your mouth? Is that a choking hazard?! Let me see! Open your mouth." Not happy with her participation, I decided to open her mouth and look in for myself. Out comes her tongue, a piece of paper, and a guttural growl. Did my baby girl just GROWL at me?? I think she did!! So fierce, this girl.

Or maybe not so fierce because 30 seconds later she came crying from the living room because she had succeeded in turning on the stereo and Amy Winehouse at volume 22 had scared the remote right out of her hand.