Make-up, Music, and Missy Rose

A little bit of pandora on the iphone, love songs station (the best ever), some make-up, a small chair, imagination, and a camera. 

Click play on the playlist at the bottom to hear some of our morning mix from pandora.  Ava's favorite was little bitty pretty one.  When it came on she jumped down off the chair and began dancing all around the bathroom.

A day at the races...

Ava and I went to the track to watch Daddy and Uncle Kenny race.  I was curious to see how this trip went because Ava does not like public bathrooms, especially ones with stalls.   However the good ole baby bjorn potty seat placed ever so carefully on the back seat seemed to do the trick just fine.  My biggest concern that day was that we were going to need to leave because she needed to potty and not make it home in time.  Ava has been potty trained since January and pull up free since January but we have carefully planned our trips around potty breaks.  I have only been able to successfully get her to go in the Target family bathroom.

So anyways back to the races.  Ava had a great day and even saw baby bikes (pw 50's) and said how about Ava ride the baby bike because Ava needs to race too.  She would tell Daddy that he needed to go fast and then when he was on the track she would yell, GO GO GO.  So beyond cute.  Here are some pictures from the day.

On Aaron's friends son's 60...she was instantly in love

and not so happy when she was told she had to get back down and couldn't ride it.

So proud that she can pick her daddy out in all the pictures.  I worked hard with her yesterday to learn how to find him.  It's an acquired skill and you have to watch riding styles and technique.

Have to admit I was a bit jealous of the other photags with the massive telephoto lens...one day maybe..haha.  O and their lack of a squirmy toddler on their shoulders who was bouncing and clapping and would throw her hands over my eyes because me not being able to see was funny to her.

My favorite photo of the day.  (large blueberry italian ice=blue mouth)

Doesn't this just make your heart melt :)

Tinkerbell hair

Let's see for the third day running Ava has been making requests for hairstyles...we had ballerina, monkey, and now Tinkerbell.  Lucky for me she is pretty easy to please so I don't have to make it perfect...I just have to make it different.

Happy Birthday to me...

I pooled my birthday money and got some new photography toys :)  I knew I wanted a new lens and so I scored a Nikkor 35mm 1.8g lens and figured on top of that it was high time I stopped putting my expensive camera in my not so expensive tote bags.  I have been eying this Jill-e bag for almost a year now and I happened to find it on sale thru amazon.  It has not only enough room for my camera and equipment but also my money, drivers license, and phone.  What more could this photag Mom ask for?

I haven't had much of an opportunity to play with my new lens but I did manage a few sample shots and I LOVE it.  Of course it isn't magic because it didn't make my bouncy toddler sit still but it is so clear.  It cuts out a bunch of post processing work because it just simply gets it right.  I can also now take clear pictures indoors since this allows me a nice wide open aperture.  I can't wait to play with it some more.

 
Wednesday she asked for ballerina hair so she got it.  Yesterday when I was doing her hair I asked what she wanted and she said monkey hair....this was the best I could come up with.  Today she wants Tinkerbell hair....I'll have to get back with you on that one.

Felt board and mini felt car maps....

We are going on vacation at the end of next month and I have been busy gathering and making activities to keep our curious toddler busy while we travel.  The best way to survive a road trip with a toddler is careful planning, lots of new activities/toys, and maybe some ear plugs...haha (flashback to Jon and Kate + 8).  Actually we don't really require ear plugs since we are only +1.

I'll post another post closer to vacation with the completed travel bag full of goodies (mostly clearance rack and target dollar section finds).  Today I'm posting the beginning of the felt goodies to be included in the travel bag.  This is just the beginning :)

First up the felt board...quite simply a picture frame with glass removed with felt stretched over some cardboard.  I did an 11x14 so it's small enough to use in the car but large enough to fit all the ABC's. 

 So far I have finished the letters (lower and upper case) and the numbers.  I did double on the lower case so we can use them to start basic spelling. 

Then I took a break from the felt board pieces to make these mini car maps.  I have made two so far but ran out of the green.  I am hoping to make four more so she can use them individually in the car or all pieced together on a floor.  I pulled up the photos from the maps done on Serving Pink Lemonade and followed her general design.  I would ask Ava what she wanted on her map and she would tell me and I would "attempt" to copy as best I could.  After everything was glued together I added some more detail with fabric markers.

The only other thing I did differently was to hand stitch the yellow lines on the road, apples on the tree, and faces on the animals using embroidery thread.  

After I do the four other mini maps I will attach velcro flaps to the backs so they can be attached together to use as a big map on the floor.  

For the felt board I plan to also make dress up people (basically felt version of paper dolls),  funny faces, shapes, tic tac toe, farm animals, and either zoo animals or an ocean scene.  

I'll post those when I get them done....

......more felt fun to come soon.

Wordless Wednesday (instagram edition) 6-22