Busy Girl

By 10:00 AM this morning, Ava had accomplished much. I built her a fort to play in

and then while I was preparing dinner in the crockpot, I gave her a couple of things to play with.

She lines everything up on that bottom stair. She will do great things...

Happy Easter!

Happy late Easter! Its a little late because I wasn't able to post the pictures yesterday. Anyways, here are some pictures of sweet little Ava. She got a fun little play kitchen set and a cute Cath Kidston rucksack (British) filled with goodies.


She had a blast with the Easter egg hunt as well. We went over to a friend's house and Ava and her son hunted for eggs. It was a fun day!

Daily Walk

(Mom, this is a path, not a road)


So far, the days have been pretty enough that we have been able to go on a walk every day. Ava is loving it!

Smarty Pants!

Ava surprised me today. Okay, first I have to start by telling you that yesterday Gregg taught her the Biblical account of the tower of Babel. To make a long story short (Which I stink at), he used our coffee table as the base for the tower and piled pillows on top of it. He started by banging on the coffee table like he was hammering. Ava of course joined in and had tons of fun with it. A couple of times when he was telling her about the account, he told her it was found in Genesis 11. This morning I asked Ava what we learned about in Genesis chapter 11 and she immediately went to the coffee table and started hammering. I was so extremely proud of her! I know every parent thinks their child is the greatest but I thought that was pretty smart:) It just shows you that your young child is listening to what you say!

Ava

Oh, where do I start with Ava? She is talking so much. She is able to copy most everything we tell her to say. The other day I told her to say "Paci" and she sat there for a second before saying, "pa pa pa pa papi". ALMOST! Haha! The other day we were at some friends of ours house and I was holding Ava while we were looking at and petting their dog. I was telling the dog to sit. Ava decided to trying telling him to sit. The "s" sound she made sounds more like the "sh" sound. Not good. She now will randomly say, "sit" in her own special little way. I am quite embarrassed when we are grocery shopping and I tell her to sit down. She immediately copies what I said and I have every parent in the grocery store looking at me as if I am teaching swear words to my child. She also has been saying "He" lately which sounds like "help" without the "lp" sound. She says it when her pants are falling down, when her stroller is stuck and she needs me to turn it around and she even asks for help in doing something I just told her not to do. Ava is also my little helper. If I give her a paper towel or a wipe, she immediately starts scrubbing the floor. Good girl! I have taught her right. She loves to clean up because one of her favorite things to do is to take things out of a basket and put them all back in. I tell her to clean up and she does but then she starts disassembling all of our hard work. She also loves when I read her books. She brings me a book when i am sitting on the floor, say," boo" and backs into my lap while handing me the book. As I write this post, she is sitting on the floor flipping through one of my magazines. Ava, how old are you? She will look through several of them. When she is done with one, she goes to my magazine holder and gets another. She looks for all of the food and animals. To the food, she says, "num num". Anyways, I just got lost writing but now that I have finished my novel about Ava, here are some pictures!
This is a picture taken yesterday while Ava lounged on the couch.

Ava has been interested in keys lately. She finds every little hole or crevice she can, and sticks the key in trying to unlock it. She can spend all day doing this, and it doesn't get boring. As you can see, she takes it very seriously.

After I finish doing dishes, Ava wants to put my gloves on and hold the sponge. She says "thank you" until I hand her my gloves and the sponge.

Ewe! This is one of Ava's favorite new things to say. Gregg takes her on walks after he gets home from work and he taught her to say that when she sees trash on the ground. She also has learned to say it when she sees a thread on the ground or when one of her toys has a rip in it. When I gave her my sponge, she squeezed bubbles out of it. She picked some of the bubbles up and stuffed them into her mouth. She made a face and then said, EWE".

That's all for now!

Daddy's Little Helper

Ready for Summer!

This is the swimsuit we bought Ava. Oh my word. I love it. Her friend Dakota is having a pool party for his first birthday and I thought this would be perfect attire. Don't you think?

Dimples

I love her dimples. I love them. I love her.

Family Day

Gregg has been working like crazy lately so it was nice to get away to Bury the other day and see Rango as a family. The movie was good and we had a fun time.

Inside the cinema, there is a candy store and since the candy containers are right at Ava's level, you can guess what happened. Gregg turned around for a second to get candy and the next thing he knew, Ava had reached into the candy and grabbed a few handfuls. Oh Ava!

We all enjoyed spending the day together:)

A Date with Daddy

Gregg took Ava on the first of many dates with daddy the other day. He took her to get Burger King and then they played in the outdoor area of the BX.


There are play houses, swing sets and a little roller coaster at the BX. She apparently loved going into all the little houses.

She wasn't crazy about the roller coaster.

She came home with a stuffed doggy that daddy bought her. She loved her date with daddy:)

Her favorite place to be...

Ava's absolute favorite place to be is outside. She finds pine cones, rocks and sticks.

They bring as much joy as a stuffed toy from the store...only they are free!

Her favorite thing to say is "Thank you". She says "Chan chu". When she picks up a rock or when I hand her a stick, she says, "Chan chu".

She is so easy to please. She is such a blessing!

Vintage tea cups...British tea or coffee...and biscuits!

I will be opening an Etsy shop within the next couple of days. I will be selling gift sets containing a teacup of your choice, British tea or coffee and biscuits to accompany your tea or coffee. These are the tea cups I have acquired so far. I will also be adding more teacups as I find them.





Here are your choices for tea and coffee. I chose my favorite brand of tea and for coffee I chose a medium roast. It just so happens the packaging is cute on both of your choices...how convenient.


Here are your biscuit choices. Both are really good but I am partial when it comes to Crunchies. They make me happy.

Also, since I will be opening in time for Mother's Day, for a small extra charge I can pick up a card for your mum. Wouldn't your mum love to receive a gift like this in the mail? I know mine would!

Homemade Bread

Homemade bread. Yum. I made two loaves today and I froze one. My mom gave me the idea of making two a week and freezing one each time. She also gave me a really awesome bread recipe. Oh my goodness it is the most soft and scrumptious bread I have ever tasted. Gregg said...and I quote..."This is the best bread I have ever had in my entire life". Here is my mom's recipe.

No Knead Bread
6 1/2 cups flour ( 3 1/2 at first then 3 later )
2 packets instant yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups warm water
2 tablespoons shortening
butter

In your kitchen aid mixer combine 3 1/2 cups flour
yeast, sugar, and salt. Mix well using regular mixer hookie thing.
Add warm water ( 125 or so ,microwave for 1 minute and feel i, then microwave 30 seconds longer if needed.. put your finger in,it should feel like a very warm shower would but not burn at all)
Add shortening at same time as warm water.
Blend at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed . Now put your dough hook on.
Add additional flour 1 cup at at time until you have added all 3. I added a little more probably another 1/2 cup.
Now mix until all is well blended.
Remove bowl from mixer. Place on your stove and put a towel over it.
In about 30 minutes it should have risen as tall as the bowl. Beat it down with your fist and using dough hook again mix for about 1 minute.
Now spray your 2 bread pans with Pam or cooking spray.
Take half the bread mixture and put it in each pan. It will be sitcky just pry it from your hands.
Preheat your oven to 375 and put your pans on top covered with towel.
When bread has risen to the height of the pans, bake at 375 for approx. 30 - 35 minutes until it is golden brown.
Remove from pans and brush with butter.
Allow to cool on a rack if you have one.
Wait until about 15 minutes to slice. Allow to cool for a couple of hours before you put one in freezer. Place one in gallon baggie and freeze it. Yummy for your tummy.You will never look at bread the same again.

Pretty Flowers

Some good friends came over tonight for dinner and these were my gift to my friend. I thought the arrangement was pretty so I wanted to post the picture.