Day One Hundred and Eighty-Three

Firework Fail...

We decided to stay home on the 3rd and just enjoy some quiet family time.  I have to say it was very nice.  Our weekends have been so busy lately that it was just nice to not have an agenda.  We had a big box of MD state legal fireworks.  Aaron had wanted to get up to PA for some better ones but it never panned out.  We picked a few to set off and this is what happened. 

Aaron was disappointed but it gave us something to do...

Ava enjoyed the first three or so then decided she had seen enough so I tried to distract her so Daddy could play...

When that didn't work I took her inside to try a cartoon distraction...

That still didn't work so Daddy had to wait until Mommy took Missy Ava to bed. 

Turned out she wasn't scared of the fireworks afterall.  Poor thing thought they were hurting her Daddy so she clung to him when he came in. 
 

Day One Hundred and Eighty-Two

Fun times...

My battery charged up enough for me to capture a few shots.  We spent a lot of the time sitting in the grass and Ava would just talk and talk...so fun.

I love moldy/mossy trees...

This face is just hilarious...

Checking to see if I'm watching as she runs to the tree...

Saying sshhhhh.....

Self Portrait...

Ava and I....

 Another baby bunny...

 This one was super fast...

 Don't even know...she just started lifting her shirt and touching her belly...

 

 Time to go in...

 

Crap!!

So remember yesterday when I said I would be kicking myself for not charging my battery?  Well, it's time to commence kicking because I just plugged the battery into the charger.  I don't know where the day has gone.  It seems like only an hour ago that Ava and I were at the local Amish market buying up their fresh yummy produce.  Now she is in her high chair eating her dinner.

Speaking of dinner.  It is just Ava and I here right now so I was able to cook a really healthy meal without having to worry about picky eaters.  I started by sauteing some of the zuchinni and summer squash we got today.  I just diced in up and threw it in the pan with some olive oil and lightly seasoned it.  Then boiled up and tossed in some gluten free brown rice pasta penne.  I added some chicken and cheese to Avas and some fresh diced tomato to mine.  Yum Yum!  She is still digging in to hers :)

Now I am hoping my battery will charge up enough that we can venture back outside again for a while and I can find something to capture.

These last few days have been absolutely heavenly.  Ava and I were able to spend almost everyday outside.  Now the temperature is going to head back up to ridiculous again.  In fact the a/c is still off and I am going to miss sitting inside and having fresh air blowing through and the sound of birds chirping all day.  I should probably turn the a/c on now since the thermostat is reading 80 but I just don't feel like shutting the windows.

Tomorrow I need to get up and hit the stores in the morning.  I need to get the stuff to make some sangria and Ava needs some more pull ups.  Then the rest of our weekend will be spent doing nothing.  How great is that?  I think this is the first weekend in a month that we didn't make plans.  Don't get me wrong...I am all for a great fourth of July picnic and fireworks but I am against the traffic.

Well, looks like my tiny little slow eater is almost done eating so I need to run and clean up the kitchen so her and I can venture outside for a while.

Day One Hundred and Eighty-One

B-E-A-Utiful weather....

I wish the whole summer could be like this.  Today it is 80 with no humidity and a nice breeze.  I had to pinch myself because we just don't get weather like this and not two days in a row for that matter.  Ava and I have spent most of our day outside.  Here are our photos from this morning.  My battery died and I have not gotten around to charging it yet.  I'm sure to be kicking myself for that tomorrow. That being said I only have pictures from our first trip outside.

These next two are my favorite because of the scene they create.  I was one of those little girls who read The Secret Garden entirely too many times.  I wanted to find a secret garden just like the one Mary found.  A place I could go to and read and play; to be left alone.  A place that was my secret place where no one could find me.  Unfortunately I lived in an ordinary house which sat in an ordinary neighborhood and not a mansion in the English countryside.  Therefore the closet thing I had to a secret garden was my semi large closet.  Enough room to lay down and close myself in.  Of course my closet wasn't exactly secret and as far as trying to read it was rather dark.  Who knows maybe when Aaron and I move to Tennessee we can get enough property to have at least a little Gazebo or something like that and I can create a makeshift secret garden.  A girl can dream right.

Day One Hundred and Eighty

Flips flops and wagon rides...

Target clearance $3....I really need to go back for the purple ones

Poor baby bunny just minding it's own business when it gets the life scared out of it by a screaming toddler running full force at the bunny so she can pet it...Notice the ears change from picture one and picture two.

 

It was a tad bit windy here yesterday...can you tell?!?

Her is little missy enjoying a wagon ride and reading some mail. 

We went around and around and around and finally after about a half hour I had to bribe her with a popsicle to get her to agree to go in.  The conversation went something like this..."Ava do you want to go inside" to which Ava responded "No" with a very determined look and a shake of the head to ensure I understood.  So I pleaded, "Ava Mama's feet hurt because Mama didn't wear her shoes and she is thirsty.  Can we please go in?"  To which she just looked at me with this are you kidding me look and shook her head again.  That time I didn't even get the honor of the word No.  She wasn't having it.  She was enjoying her wagon ride and had no intentions of going in.  So finally out of desperation from walking barefoot on semi-burnt grass and out of thirst I said, "Ava do you want a Popsicle".  She immediately started to get out of the wagon and grabbed my hand and said, "Go inside".  Sometimes you just gotta remember your negotiating with a toddler and toddlers care about a small list of things.  Food, Sleep, Play, and Food.

Summer Nights!!!

The great thing about summer nights is that even after bath time there is a little daylight left to go out and play. 

Day One Hundred and Seventy-Nine

More Ava in Motion...

I'm not set on these being the only photos for today because they didn't come out exactly as I had thought they would. 

Here is Ava twirling and playing in her tutu, her Aunt's scarf, and enjoying her goody bag lollie.  I don't let her indulge in lollies often because they are so sticky but she did happily enjoy it.