Ava’s first year.

The biggest news around here is that Ava is one! She’s walking everywhere – at a very fast pace. She voices her opinion, just like she laughs, cries, and everything else – loudly! She is super cuddly. She says “hi”, “mama”, “dada”, “anna” (Adelynn), “buh buh buh” (bumblebee) and “ah duh” (all done), she loves patty cake, bumblebee and peek a boo. She instigates lots of these games or sound effects that she wants you to copy. She can tell by listening to conversation when someone is leaving and she will start to wave, even if the word “bye” is not ever used. She’s a champion waver. When she sees a lion in a book, she roars. When she sees a dog in a book, she whispers a “woof”. She attempted “meow” tonight when she saw a cat in a book and it was adorable. I hope she picks that one up soon. She already pretends a little bit. She uses things as phones and says “hi” into them. If she gets a brush she will brush her own hair or mine – and we never taught her that. She’s a smart cookie. She’s still as wiggly and happy as ever. When she’s quiet, I never worry about her. It just means that she’s reading books somewhere. Unless Adelynn comes running. Then it means she’s playing in the toilet water. When she sees me coming she automatically makes her sound for “yuck!”  because she knows I’m going to say that… but she simultaneously leaves her hand in the toilet.

Her party was on Saturday. She wasn’t real interested in her gifts until they were open. She shocked us all when she was dainty about her cake. She’s normally an aggressive and messy eater. So when she only dropped 2 pieces on the ground, and then picked them up and ate them – leaving no mess at all – we were pleasantly surprised. She didn’t even need a bath. The time change was that night, so the girls crashed hard. Having them go to bed early worked out perfectly since we lost an hour. We also didn’t have any responsibilities at church in the morning, so we slept in, went to 3rd service and then home!

It’s also amazing that Adelynn is almost 4. Today was a windy one and you bet she was flying her kite everywhere this afternoon. She has been going to preschool 1 morning per week since November. She’s LOVING it. We had parent teacher conferences a couple of weeks ago and her teacher couldn’t say enough good things about her. She said she’s a model student and wishes she could have her in class every day. She’s not old enough yet, but next year she will go more than one day and her teacher will get her wish She is writing her name and recognizing her numbers. Every morning she checks the weather on my phone and tells me what it says. One day she said “It’s a 3 and an 8!” She always gets excited about the weather – no matter the temperature. And she gets excited the mail. (If you follow my blog, you already know this.) When we were cooped up in the house quite a bit in the winter, she would always ask if the mail was coming – like it was an event. She got a new dress recently and when people ask “Did Mommy get that for you?” She says “No, the mail brought it.” She basically thinks the mailman is Santa Claus. We do the Dolly Parton Imagination Library too, which means each girl gets a free book every month in the mail until they turn 5. She thinks the mailman brings those too. He has no idea how awesome she thinks he is.

Since this is the last year that Ava won’t have an opinion on her birthday décor, I chose to do what I wanted. Which was a vintage theme that included burlap, lace, coral and blue. You can’t see Adelynn’s dress in pictures very well, but it’s vintage too. My friend Ashley sent it to her from a designer consignment store in DC. So, naturally, the mail man got that for her too.

 

Pam did a great job on the cakes! They look exactly like I pictured.

Most of the party guests.

The first and last gift Ava had any interest in opening.

She was mostly just interested in her cousin Brody’s toy. (He was taking video)

Bella was thrilled to have lots of lap options. She chose my brother Kyle’s lap for a while.
Party table! On the small left table is a place to write birthday wishes to Ava for her scrapbook. In the brown bags is a candy-coated, pink popcorn. Dave actually helped me make the majority of those brown bags. Who knew he was so handy with a glue gun?! I made everything else, including the banner and table cloth/runner. It’s also hard to tell, but on the back right is a shutter with pictures of Ava clothespinned on it. There is one from each month of her life.
Getting coached by big sister.

Thanks to Grandpaparazzi Randy for sharing these pictures with me! I was a little preoccupied.

If you didn’t get a scrapbook page and want one to fill out, let me know and I will be sure to get you one. I’d love to give her as many as we can.

Ava’s first year recap is on my blog.