Day One Hundred and Fourty-Eight

Water play...

Yesterday I took Ava outside to paint with water.  Basically we took her sand bucket and filled it with water and then I handed her a large clean paintbrush.  She went and grabbed her chalk from the garage and brought it around back so I combined the activities.  We would use the chalk to write on the stones and then "paint" over them and they would disappear.  This actually lasted a good fifteen minutes which is a pretty good stretch for one set activity.

Then she decided that it would be really fun to splash the water in the bucket.

After she splashed out almost all of the water we went back over to refill the bucket but she discovered another good place to splash water.

I like to let Ava experiment and explore especially when she is playing outside.  I will start her with an activity to get her going and then watch what she turns it into.  We like to keep in mind that it's the process and not the product and just let her enjoy herself.  It's so fun to watch carefree imaginative play.

I'll end today's post by sharing a picture of the red rose I mentioned before.  When we choose Rose as our daughters middle name this is what I pictured.

Day One Hundred and Fourty-Seven

Farm Fresh...

Friday Ava and I went to the Amish market in search of some more yummy strawberries.  Much to our disappointment we found none but we did score these beauties.  Yum, right!!  I love fresh fruits and veggies.

Day One Hundred and Fourty-Six

Tutu twirls...

Thursday afternoon I heard Ava in her room and she sounded like she was upset about something so I went in to she what could have possibly ruffled her feathers.  I found her pointing to something in the closet and I looked and low and behold she wanted her tutu.  She has two of them but neither has been worn in over six months.  Here she was the last time she wore either. 

I remember the good ole days before I had to actually chase my subject down, before blurred action shots, before she refused to look at the camera, when studio shots were actually possible, and sessions could be planned out.

Back to current day (or last Thursday).  So I reached up and grabbed the tutu and she raised her arms ups high and started running in place out of excitement.  She couldn't wait to put it on.  I slipped it on over her head and she grinned ear to ear and ran into the foyer.  She began to twirl around and prance from room to room.  I couldn't believe how excited she got over a tutu.  Looks like I will be putting her in dance classes this fall. 

We did her lesson in the tutu because she did not want to take it off.  While we were sitting on the floor finishing up her shapes puzzle her Daddy came home.  The next sequence of photos is her showing her Daddy her tutu and what she could do in it.  O and they are pretty blurred but I didn't get a chance to adjust my settings.  I caught the moment so that counts for something.

Day One Hundred and Fourty-Five

Canadian or American..

Apparently there are two ways to spell 40.  I spelled it two different ways but both looked right so I googled it.  Good ole' Google told me there are two correct spellings: forty which is American and fourty which is Canadian.  Spell check prefers forty but my eyes prefer fourty so I'll leave it as fourty for today. 

My picture for today (well, umm actually last Wednesday) is a close up of a rose in the backyard.  I need to take a picture of the red ones.  I wish I could capture that smell and share it with you because it is so sweet smelling.  Not offensive like perfume manufacturers lead you to believe roses are.  Never ever trust synthetic smells...like lavendar.  The real thing smells NOTHING like the offensive perfumes and fragrances in stores.

In fact I do not like perfume or colognes because I find them very offensive.  They give me headaches, make me cough, and I often have to hold my breath around perfume wearers.  Too much inhalation of perfumy (I don't think that is a real word) air will make me nauseous.  I love essential oils and natural extracts but synthetic is horrible.  Similar to funeral flowers I find perfume overwhelming.  I'm glad Aaron feels the same and also has similar reactions to it or I would have to ask him not to wear cologne.  Which reminds me of a pet peeve from my office working days.  Those people (and they know who they are) who wear so much cologne or perfume in the mornings that when you get on the elevator you know they are at work.  Not because they are in the elevator with you but because they left their scent behind.  I found men were worse with that.  Some so potent you could barely enter their office without a gas mask in hand.  I will never understand what they are trying to cover...they must smell horrible naturally.  Or maybe they have awful breath or maybe they are so arrogant they like to smell themselves...hahah, they may have been it.

So back to my photo...here is the rose....

Day One Hundred and Fourty-Four

Finding new inspiration...

I'll admit that I have been lacking motivation the last few weeks.  I had the end of a semester to get through and it seemed like I was at school on the nice days and when I was home it was cold and dreary.  Go figure, right!!  Since it seems to be getting nicer I'm trying to get outside with my camera.  I have been looking at my photos from last summer and fall when it was nice and they look awesome compared to my winter photos.

I still haven't made it beyond my own backyard but I will.  I am hoping the warmth, the sunshine, and the blue skies will help bring my photography new life.  I need inspiration and I think it is outside of this house.  This means field trips for Ava and I.  I want to take her to a local plantation that has beautiful gardens, then maybe historic downtown Annapolis.  Thanks to the Ergo we can walk around Annapolis and I can be hands free to shoot what I want.  I LOVE my Ergo!!! 

So anyways here are some pics from Tuesday of Ava playing outside.

Here she is pointing out a plane or "pane" for me.  I love in the evening when the moon starts to show but it is still light out.  She will walk around saying a pane and the moon.  The moon the moon!!! So cute!!!  She can see the tiniest planes way up in the sky and point them out.  It is so amazing to see how much she is aware of now.

An over the shoulder view of Ava playing with the rocks.

This one was priceless.  She ran over and reached up high and touched the leaves.  She was so proud that she was tall enough and could reach them.  She came and got me and said tree and showed me she could touch it.

Day One Hundred and Forty-One thru One Hundred and Forty-Three

Slow days....

Ava has been running a fever from teething the last few days so we haven't done much aside from me going to school and going to Nan's for lunch yesterday.  Today the fever is finally down.  Yay for that!!!

141

142-day one of the fever

143- Chillin' on the couch...

Day One Hundred and Forty

A day at the park...

Well, it had been a somewhat dreary week and Friday was actually nice so it was off to the park for Ava and I.  We went first to the Amish market and got yummy strawberries, zucchini, and peach jam.  I really wish I had gotten a photo of the strawberries.  They were such a deep red all the way thru and were so sweet.  Ava LOVED them.

When we got to the park I was disappointed to find the equipment was too hot.  Ava ran to the swing which is black.  I mean really, whose design idea was that, can't we have a lighter color rubber?  Ava did not understand that it was hot so I had her touch it and she said "hot" and then pushed the swing in defiance.  I mean how dare that swing be hot right.  So she proceeded to walk her way to the equipment and I helped her climb the slide but then she turned to sit to come down it and said "hot" and smacked the slide.  Again, how dare it be hot.  Poor thing just couldn't figure out why it was all hot but being a kid she found fun in climbing and walking all of the steps so I sat back and taped her.  I believe at one point she even says "hot" because even the rails were hot.



Needless to say we didn't hang around long.  We went back to the car for a drink and I tested to see if she would be okay with leaving by asking if she wanted to get in.  She must have been over the hot park because she was actually ok with going.  That doesn't happen often; not after such a short visit.  We came home and she got a lunch of chicken nuggets, green beans, and an enormous amount of strawberries.