Ava tidbits

Ava loves taking pictures with my camera and I think this is a pretty good one. I wish I could crop out my dumb hand and leg. Also Ava's finger is over the lens.
I've found a few random pics that she took without me knowing of random objects. Nouveau art!

Sticks and stones...pretty much any time we step foot outside, Ava must pick up sticks, stones, branches with leaves (so she can sweep) and she holds onto them for dear life. Until I force her to drop them all before we walk into our building. Many a battle we have fought over this.

"I'll be the teacher, you be the kid". Ava is really into pretending to read books to me while she holds the book up.

Ava tries out a ballet tea party class. She wasn't always listening to the teachers, but she managed to learn the first and second positions. I think her plie is darling, even if it isn't perfect. I'll invest in a real tutu when we sign up for real.

This is our hallway, elevators on the left. We've had this little stroller for a year and a half and now she is the most obsessed she has ever been with it. She likes to fold it up and pretend to take it in the subway. She has named two of her dolls Ava and Louise. She puts them in time out sometimes.

Ava writes her name! Her letter writing of the letter "A" has been hit or miss for a while. She got it today. Will she tomorrow? Who knows? But I'm proud! Ava also kind of understands the concept of rhyming. I'll ask her what rhymes with "frog" and she'll say "bog". "Baby" rhymes with "maybe". "Bava" rhymes with "Ava". All of her rhyming words start with a "b"

Book Buddies Preschool

When we first moved to NYC in February, I kept lamenting about how if we had stayed in Charlotte, Ava would be starting preschool in September. You see, preschools in NYC are ridiculously expensive, and I believe the yearly tuition is an average of $10,000. Then an angel from my church, Amy Wilcox, decides to do a home preschool program (Book Buddies Preschool). She has the experience, the space (4 bedrooms in NYC!), and the patience to do this. Basically to me she is a life saver!

Including Ava, there are eight children, all born in 2007, in the class. With the exception of two children, all the children attend nursery together anyway. Ava attends school on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am-noon. I think this will be a wonderful program for Ava and she loves Ms. Amy and all of her classmates. I feel so happy this worked out and it is such an affordable program too. Can I get a hallelujah???!!!

Much to my chagrin I couldn't find my camera on her first official day of school. So I just have pictures of orientation and the second day of school. Ava did so well her first two days. She just walks right in and gets busy. She is so ready for this new stage in her life. We are talking about the same girl who would cry hysterically at the gym's child care before she was two years old. Now Ava barely looks at me when I drop her off and pick her up. Well, hey two can play that game. I went out for breakfast with Arden and three other moms after dropping off the kids. I'm talking tough but the reality is I feel a little sad about her not needing me so much anymore.

Trampoline in Ms. Amy's living room. How cool is that?

As long as Ava has a baby doll in her hands, she is happy! Looks like she is getting a little greedy there with the doll stuff.

These three are thick as thieves...looks like there is an inside joke going on here

Ava will say cheese and look at anything but the camera. These first four pics were taken on orientation day.

The children said "goodbye to summer" on their second day of school. They did art with frozen ice cubs colored with food coloring. There was a sprinkler across from Amy's apartment.

Look who's looking at the camera...that's my girl!

Hair balls

One annoying thing about having a baby is the hair loss. It is amazing that I have any hair left on my head. I shed so much hair that David calls me the family pet. It doesn't help that I have super long dark hair that is clearly visible all over our floor. My hair appears everywhere even in strange places like Arden's diapers. Even with constant sweeping I have hair balls starting to congregate in the corners, like little creatures. I told Ava I was going bald and she said "Like a boy?" I think I have some hair growing back. I have some ugly short wispy strands on my forehead.

Safari party

Ava had her third birthday party on September 11. It was the most gorgeous day ever and everything turned out so well. My friend Emily and I decided to do a joint party for her son Eli (born 5 days after Ava) and Ava so that it wouldn't be too stressful. We held the party at Safari Playground, so we decided to do a safari theme. I think including Eli and Ava there were 21 children and many of the parents showed up. For the party favor bags we glued wooden safari animals with the childrens' names on them to paper bags. I wish I took a picture of those.

Luckily Emily has a car and she was able to drive to Costco and Target and set up the spread here.

My friend Heidi helped me decorate the cake. Love those little plastic animals. Emily used them to decorate her cupcakes too. We were pleased with how the cake turned out. Simple but cute!

Playing "Lion says" which is a my made-up version of "Simon says". Also played "Tiger Tiger Giraffe" (aka duck, duck goose). The younger kids didn't really get it. A hoot to watch.

Pin the nose on the lion

Eli's dad, Boyd, leading the kids on a tiger hunt. They used their telescope/binoculars with cut up toilet paper rolls

All the kids were given an animal mask to wear if they wanted. Ava kept roaring at everyone. Her "3" shirt is from Chase, her pal in Charlotte.

Drawing on the hippos with dad. Giving the hippo a butt tattoo maybe?

The birthday duo

Arden observing the festivities with Uncle Andrew

Boyd played and sang some fun songs: "In the jungle", "The wheels on the Jeep", "Old McDonald had a jungle"

Ava enjoying the fun music

Chomping into the cupcake. This girl is obsessed with cupcakes.

Lilly joining in on blowing out the candles. The more the merrier! Thanks to everyone who shared this special day with us!

Yoga Pose Off

Who's got the better yoga poses?

Round 1: Lotus Position

Round 2:Cheesy smile

Round 3: Attempt to do a side pose

I took some pictures of Ava when she was five months old on a yoga mat so I thought I would do the same with Arden. These babies look so different! In these pictures, Ava actually looks a little rotund. I think around five months was when she had a little baby fat, but just a little. I love my yoga babies!

Governors Island

We took the subway down to the South Ferry area at the end of August and scoffed at how long the line was to go to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We'll head to those destinations when there are fewer tourists. We decided the free ferry ride and free bike rentals (Fridays only) on Governors Island were a better fit. Governor's Island is approximately half a mile from the southern tip of Manhattan. It's only open to the public a few months out of the year so we wanted to take advantage of seeing this island. The awesomely short 4 minute ferry ride didn't make anyone seasick, and we rushed to get our free bike rentals. We only got one bike with a child's seat at the back. David took Ava for a ride while I watched Arden and then we switched. This was Ava's first bike ride ever. David was really nervous when I was riding the bike (I'm 30 not 5!) but it was so exhilarating to ride past the Statue of Liberty and see the beautiful harbor and buildings across from us. There were people picnicking and laying in hammocks with the Statue of Liberty in sight. We got lazy towards the end of the day and got a ride from the tram back to the pier. Another awesome NYC destination to check off our list...

All smiles on the ferry ride

The interactive sculpture garden for kids was fun to explore

There were random sculptures all over the island

Can't wait until Arden is old enough so we can all enjoy bike rides together

No, I'm just crazy

I've decided to approach the blogging thing a little differently. Instead of blogging once in a while and always writing long posts as if I am writing a college paper, I'm going to capture our lives in little vignettes here and there as well. Well, that is my intention anyway.

So today David wanted to go to the Barney's Warehouse sale. He was feeling like the worst dressed employee on his floor so he wanted a new spiffy wardrobe. The whole family showed up at the dingy warehouse and realized this shopping thing was going to be intense. Strollers and backpacks had to be checked in (I've been toting a backpack versus a shoulder diaper bag these days...I prefer the unshowered backpacker look over the svelte New York mommy look). Ava, Arden and I ditched David so he could battle the metrosexuals over the sales racks. I found the women's bin that said "75% off denim". I was getting excited and thought I could actually score some cool threads for cheap. Of course it was so difficult for me to dig through the bins and find the right size with Ava next to me and Arden strapped to me in the Ergo. I think all the jeans were low-rise too. The last thing I need is another pair of low-rise jeans to accentuate my extra tummy folds. I found some jeans to try on and found out the "dressing room" was a corner of the store with pseudo-walls set up. Throngs of women were crammed in this cattle stall and trying on clothes without caring about being exposed to each other. I decided to do it too with Arden still strapped to me and Ava by my side. Something about 75% off affected my thinking. Women were offering to help and kept saying "You are so brave to shop with your girls!" I replied, "No, I'm just crazy". After trying on the jeans (too tight) I went to grab a few more to try on. This time I decided to try jeans on behind the jeans bin because I didn't want to go back to the cattle stall. I must have really lost my mind at that point. I woke Arden up in the process of trying to squish myself into skinny jeans and got in trouble with a saleslady. The sad thing is, both David and I left empty-handed. But the trip down there wasn't all for naught because we went to Chelsea Market and had a delicious lunch at Friedman's. If I ever go to a warehouse sale again, the kids are staying behind and I'm getting my game face on!