Let's get a few things out of the way...

Those few things would be catching up on the last few days for sake of this project.  Then I can begin to share with you the TON of photos and videos from our trip.

234- packing...I hate packing

235-  a long drive and the unpacking meant this is what you get.  A simple snapshot...nothing fancy.  The camera made it out of the bag long enough for me to put in the SD card we had to pick up on the way.  Yup, about 30 minutes from home I realized the SD card was sitting on the nightstand. 

236- A beautiful brisk (meaning 50 degree weather) WV morning.  I stepped out in my pj shorts and tank and quickly ran back in to cover up.

237- We did some sight seeing and one of the places we visited was a really cool state park called beartown.

238- I did a little mini shoot with Ava in the yard at our cabin.  I'll share more of these later :)

239- Headed Home

240- Sadly enough the camera didn't make it back out of the bag Monday.  However I did have the flip on me so here are two videos from the park.

vid1- she has gone down this thing more times than I can count and this has never happened.



vid2- check out what she does to keep it from happening again



241- Today we stood in line for about two hours to get our books.  Seriously it was out of hand.  Ava behaved extremely well and we only had a quick meltdown right before we checked out.

234....homemade spaghetti sauce take 2

So we ended up with a ton of tomatoes again and I decided to make some more sauce.  My pictures totally sucked last time so I took more this time.  The pictures were definitely better and surprisingly so was the sauce.  It was pretty freaking good last time but this time it was addicting.  Yum!!

So where to start...how about with the obnoxiousness that is making homemade spaghetti sauce.  Here is a photo of my line up.

This time I also sauteed some onion and green pepper to add to the tomatoes before I pureed.

How about a closer look of that yumminess.

Now for the tomatoes...right into the boiling water they go.

Then from there they chill out in the ice bath...

Then I removed all the skins...Isn't that like the perfect shade of red.

Then I had to chop and deseed them.  Honestly if it weren't for this part I would probably always make spaghetti sauce from scratch.

Then I just threw it all in the crockpot and took the immersion blender to it all.  The onion and green pepper was layered in prior to this picture.

Then I just put it on high and left it till closer to dinner time.  I actually didn't intend for this to be dinner that night but when dinner time came I didn't feel like making anything else.  This was originally going to be frozen for later.

Then the worst part in cooking/baking anything.  THE CLEAN UP.

Luckily my little helper did some grocery shopping while I cooked ;) O and don't mind the messy bed head.  We hadn't gotten around to combing her hair yet.

Then I restored the kitchen to it's pre-tomato glory.

 Tamed Ava's crazy hair...

When I decided to go ahead and have it for dinner I added some meat.

Then my last secret ingredients :)  So freaking yummy...like seriously YUM!!!!!

We leave tomorrow for WV so I'm hoping that I can get back on tonight to do today's post but if not I will see ya'll next week since we will not have internet where we are going.  It's that far out there...can't wait.

233...playing with playdough

It seems the key to keeping Ava content close to bedtime is artistic play.  She is on the tired side so she likes to just sit and play.  We have been using this time to help her learn more shapes by using cookie cutters.  She really enjoys it.

 I was playing with some new actions...this one is really fun!

Day 232...bows for the missy rose

A friend of mine makes beautiful bows and has been making bows for Ava since she was a tiny baby.  She does amazing work and is able to match outfits by picture....I mean really it's pretty amazing.  Here are Ava's newest piggy korkers. 

Getting August all caught up

226-231

This should do it....well at least it will get me caught up through yesterday.

226- These pictures are super blurry and crappy.  Not sure what was up with me that day.  Probably being preoccupied with making spaghetti sauce from scratch using tomatoes from my Uncles garden.  Man, talk about work.  It was yummy though.

227- Ava's pig cup.  My Dad finds the most awesome things.  She will say "Mommy, piggy....cup" I will say is it a piggy cup and she will say, "piggy.....cup" with like a two second pause in between.  So cute!

228-  Silly girl

229- So the second half of this week was spent changing Ava's room from a nursery to more of a toddler room.  I was only able to spend about an hour or two a day doing it because once Ava was over the project she would start undoing everything I was doing.  Normally my sign to move onto something new.  Wednesday we organized toys.

dress up stuff...she calls this her box.

230- Changing from crib to toddler bed.  Ok so I thought this would be simple.  I mean I put the crib together by myself when I was a good 8 months pregnant so I figured converting it to the toddler bed should be a cinch.  So the important factor that I forgot to add in was the whole toddler part.  Ava was climbing on pieces that weren't screwed together, jumping on the mattress support springs that were half attached and half on the ground, and then of course taking my tools so she could do it.  Now that was super adorable!

Good bye crib front

Hello Toddler support rails

I need to remember to pick up a pillow case cover for that body pillow.  That shade of pink is just a little too much for me to look at.  Notice she totally took over my little massage pillow.

231- These are some of Ava's receiving blankets.  I want to take some of the favorites that were used a lot and make them into a large quilt for her to use for years to come.  That sounds like a good winter project.

Now I need to go find something for my subject today.  Hmmm......

 

Becky's Shower {Day 225}

My cousin Becky is having a little boy in September.  Can't wait...new babies are so cute and cuddly.  Here are some of the shots I managed to get.  I try not to overwhelm myself with taking pictures at family functions so I can make sure I make time to socialize and enjoy myself as well.  I took most of these while Ava was busy eating a cupcake :)

August catch up part 2

Day 217 - 224

217-

218- more cell phone pics :)

219- Finally an alternative to ice cream that is just as smooth and creamy

220- another trip to the park...we have to get to this park before 10am because the equipment gets so hot.

221-

222-  I LOVE sephora samples :)

223- Love This....Thanks Nan!!!

224- This is why I love summer...