More of Ava's Handiwork

Ever the crafter / artist, Ava is always at her desk drawing or coloring, it seems. 

Here are a few samples of her recent artwork.

Peace, love and all-things-crafty,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava Reads!

Ava finished her reading assignment for the month of September.  After school today we read for an hour, which allowed her to fill-in four pencils.  She is anxious to turn it in tomorrow.  She mentioned that there haven't been any other students in her class who have completed the assignment. 

Among Ava's favorites are "Green Eggs and Ham", "Hop on Pop" and "Go Dog, Go!"  I wanted to take a few pictures with my phone and she asked if I would take a video of her reading.  :)

The finished homework paper, to turn in:

Peace, love and the big wide world of words!
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Labor Day Weekend 2011

This year we had a fairly low-key weekend, which was nice.  On Friday we were pretty tuckered out from the week's activities. 


That night, after the kiddos went to bed, Doug used his new chainsaw blade sharpener for the first time.  He has been using his chainsaw so much lately (and wearing out the blades as a result), that he thought it would actually be cheaper in the long run to buy a sharpener.  He sharpened 5 blades on Friday, which would've cost $50...So, the sharpener will definitely pay for itself quickly around here!  I tried to play catch-up on the blog.  :)

Saturday we headed to Ava's gymnastics class.  Doug kept Liam home.  I was thankful he did, as the last few times Liam has gone, he's been a bit antsy.  Before we even left to go to the class on Saturday, Ava said "I want to be the best in class today!  I will try my hardest today."  Wow, all without prompting.  I mentioned earlier in the week that if she listens to her coach that she would learn to do things really well, because her coach is watching her and sees how she could become better.  (I mentioned this because she was having fun with one of the other little girls last Saturday and not really listening to the coach well).  She seriously took the conversation to heart.  On Saturday, she did AMAZING!  Coach Alec made a (good) example out of her at least four times.  She did better than I have ever seen and seemed to really enjoy it.  She has been doing headstands around the house on anything... We seriously need to get this girl a dedicated space so she can do her headstands, cartwheels and somersaults!

She stood up in front of the mat, put her hands down and kicked her feet up before I took this photo.  The coach is trying to get them to go from standing into a handstand position here.

The coach had them jumping with both feet together here, then jumping up with both feet (together) onto each mat.  They jumped up onto three different mats.

On the way home from gymnastics, she asked if we could go to a pool.  I had already been toying around with the idea of going to Whitewater, since this was the last weekend we would be able to use our season passes.  I called Doug and told him about it, asking him if he could get Liam ready before we got there.  I thought Doug might appreciate our being out of his hair, while he concentrated on the retaining wall.  So we packed our bags (complete with contraband of baby carrots, protein bars and drinks) and were off. 

We spent about three hours there, running to all of the attractions.  We ended up at the wave pool, where both kids were wearing life jackets.  Ava and Liam both enjoyed the waves.  Liam crawled  up into my lap when I was sitting in very shallow water.  While the waves were splashing against us, he fell asleep.  In a wave pool.  Yep, he was a tired boy. He had so much fun on all of the rides while we were there.  Ava went a total of 4 times to Whitewater this year (with day care once, with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend), while Liam and I got to go 3 times (with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend).  Doug was able to go once, with our family, Mom, Daymian and Jordan.

We headed home and went out for ice cream with a very tired Doug, who came across yet another rough area of serious tree roots.  He had to use his axe to chop through them, once again.

On Sunday after church I made quite a few desserts for a cook-out at the Quinns'.  It was a party to welcome everyone to their new pool / Labor Day.  It was forecasted to rain on Labor Day, so they moved their cook-out to Sunday at 2 p.m., so we could all use the pool, weather permitting.  I made a black forest trifle, a white cake with carrot cake jam between layers and frosted with a whipped cream icing, and a creamy grape salad.  I knew no one else had volunteered for dessert, thus the lengthy list of desserts.  Everyone seemed to appreciate the goods. 

At the Quinns', Ava, Liam and I were able to swim in the pool, while Doug continued working on the retaining wall.  I had bought some new floaties (on clearance) at Target for Liam, so he wouldn't have to use Ava's fuschia ones any more.  ;-)  With a floatation vest and some floaties, he was able to keep his face out of the water.  Until we put the floaties on, though, he WOULD NOT let go of me.  Once he had the arm floaties on, I showed him how to kick.  And he was off... He really got around the pool well after that!  I was so glad to see him getting around by himself, confident in doing so.  Doug joined us later for dinner.  It sprinkled a little bit while we were there, but we enjoyed hanging out with our neighbors and catching up.  Carine took the cutest picture of all of the kids (including some of their friends that don't live in the neighborhood) up at the edge of the deck they just built.  Seeing this picture, I think Gerald plans on enhancing this area of the deck by building a bigger counter.  :)

Ava, Liam and friends of the Quinns. 
Matthew and friend enjoying a root beer.  This area is part of their new deck.

The Quinns' new pool and deck! 

They are gracious hosts and have invited us over quite a few times already!

Monday it rained and it rained.  There were flash flood warnings for our area.  We weren't affected at all, thankfully.  It did put a stop to Doug's backfill plans for the retaining wall (levels 3 and 4).  He plans on going 9 levels, so he still has quite a bit of work ahead of him.  Luckily the worst of it is over, though, because the remaining dead-men he will have to install won't require much digging. 

We headed to McD's for a quick lunch and were going to go to the dollar show.  The rest of EAST COBB had the same idea we did...We decided not to wait in line, but did decide to check out the regular show and see what was playing.  Spy Kids 2 was playing at 1:30, so we did some browsing for shoes for Liam before heading back to the theater.  Wow.  Everyone in East Cobb must've seen a movie today!  The movie was so cute.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  We walked out into the rain after the show, too.  We got home and both kids napped. 

After dinner, we continued on with Ava's reading homework.  She has a sheet that has 12 pencils on it.  For each 15 minutes she spends reading with us (or us reading to her), she gets to color in a pencil.  Once she colors in all pencils, she can bring the sheet back, signed by a parent, and will receive a charm ring/bracelet, to which she can add future charms for reading.  She colored in one pencil on Friday night.  Tonight she said she wanted to read 10 books!  We set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes and would read with her.  She read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop On Pop" by herself, with Mom or Dad occasionally helping with a word.  She is SERIOUSLY reading these days!  We kept resetting the timer for 15 minutes, whenever it would go off.  One hour and 45 minutes later (!), she was able to color in SEVEN more pencils.  She wants to be one of the first to turn in her sheet of pencils, all filled-in.  :)  I think this homework exercise is just what she needed for motivation to want to read.  When she went to bed tonight, only FOUR of the pencils were not filled-in.  I told her I would help her finish them tomorrow after school, if she wanted to do that.  She was excited.  I am so happy that she has such confidence about reading now!  For the longest time she seemed paralyzed and intimidated that she couldn't do it. 


The Christian-based phonics program they used at Lighthouse seems to have given her a leg-up.  At first she seemed frustrated because she didn't read "sight words" quickly.  Now she seems to have passed that up and is definitely using the A Beka phonics teachings to her advantage.  She considers herself to be reading now...I'm thankful for that!


Doug just came down from putting them to bed and mentioned how excited Ava is about her reading.  He said she wouldn't stop talking about reading, and she mentioned that Mrs. McKenzie said she is the "best reader" in the class, as well as the "best singer".  Ha.  That's my Ava-girl!  She has quite the vibrato, if she's trying to be dramatic.  If you see her, ask her to sing "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty!  (She sounds like she is 20 years-old singing it...)

Over this weekend...

She's hoping to turn in her sheet on Wednesday! :)

I also signed her up for the Sunshine Math Program.  It is done outside of school hours and with a parent.  They send home a packet which has to be completed and sent back within six weeks.  It doesn't count for or against her grades, but her involvement in it is seen as beneficial.  She will also receive special recognition for being involved with the program, and also if she turns in her completed packet.  She is seriously interested in patterns lately, so I think this type of program might be a logical next step for her.  I'm sure the math problems won't be too tough in the beginning.  If she doesn't want to continue on with it, we don't have to do it.  I pray she will be able to learn perserverance through involvement in this program, though.  The program continues through 5th grade, so I thought it might be nice to start her out early in it.  We'll see what it's all about!

Ava is excited to go back to school after a long weekend.  We were bummed that not as much progress could've been made on the retaining wall on such a long weekend.  We know it will happen, but we're just anxious for the end result to get here!

Back to the grind tomorrow,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Siblings

Although they're often moving too fast for the phone in my camera to catch a "quality" image, these are definitely worth sharing.  :-)

Peace, love and best friends,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava the Gymnast

For the longest time, I had been meaning to check into gymnastics classes for Ava.  After her swimming classes were over last winter, we took a break from classes for a few months.  When I mentioned to her that gymnastics classes were available, she was over-the-top excited about the prospect.


I called Modern Gymnastics, on Johnson Ferry Road.  The person with whom I spoke mentioned they had two more Saturday classes left in their current session, but we could pay for just those two classes if we'd like to attend.  I thought it was perfect timing.  If Ava enjoyed those two classes, we could enroll her in their summer session.  If not, we wouldn't have invested in a whole session and have her hating it...


Ava. LOVES. GYMNASTICS.  She seems naturally-talented at it!  I know I sound like one of "those" parents.  But HONESTLY!  To watch her on the balance beam, she has beautiful posture and is very graceful.  With her natural athleticism, I think gymnastics is a perfect fit for her. 


The class is an hour long.  An hour seems like an eternity compared to her half-hour swimming classes.  Within the hour, though, they use:

• The balance beam
• The uneven bars (or just one bar)
• The springboard, to jump onto the pummel horse
• The floor (which has springs in it and is soft)
• Two trampolines that are built into the floor
• A Swedish (?) wall, that looks like a huge wall with short wooden shelves on it. 
• Padding and padded ramps on the floor, to practice tumbling.

They stretch first, do handstands and cartwheels on the floor.  They do "skin-the-cats", and then reverse themselves in-air while still holding on to the bars.  They go backward and face-forward on the balance beam, on their tip-toes, holding their arms in the air.  They practice straddle jumps, pike jumps off of the balance beam and also on the trampoline.  They use the climbing wall to do handstands (she's REALLY good at handstands, if she can put her feet against a wall!) and then try to stretch themselves as far up the climbing wall as they can. 


Leaving it up to Ava, I asked if she wanted to continue into their summer session.  She did.  After the summer session (and missing a few classes due to vacation or one illness), I asked Ava if she wanted to continue into the fall session.  At first she thought she might like to take dance instead.  I told her she could decide, but mentioned that she might not get to do much in dance, other than tap her feet to music and move to the music, that she might learn more tricks in gymnastics.  I told her she didn't have to decide right then, but to let me know.  She chose gymnastics.  I was so glad she did, as I can see can really improve if she practices.


I can tell Ava loves it, because she bounces in place while she is waiting for her turn on the next activity.  It's entirely too sweet to watch.  I'm so glad we picked this place.  It is a full-fledged gym.  Coach Alec is a very skilled gymnast himself.  He mentioned that Ava has quite a bit of upper-body strength.  (It's amazing what these little girls can do on a bar, for an extended period of time!) 


During the last class she attended, the coaches split the class of seven kids into two groups, each group trained by a different coach.  When I called to enroll Ava in the Sept/Oct session, I asked if Ava would have Coach Alec again, mentioning that Ava seems to do so well when Alec coaches her.  The gym contact mentioned Ava was in the more advanced of the two groups, that they split them out based on their ability.  He said if she continues to do as well as she is, she will stay with Coach Alec.


I hope she continues to enjoy gymnastics.  I hope she is able to learn something from it, as well.  For the time being, she seems to be having so much fun with it!


We're waiting just a little bit more to get Liam involved in something.  I'm hoping he enjoys baseball or something like that.  I know our neighbor Matthew is seriously involved in it.  Hopefully we can put his hand-me-downs (they've graciously given to us) to use on the baseball field!


Peace, love and "skin-the-cats",
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam


Here are some pictures I found on their Web site, as well as some I have taken.

From the Web site:

Ava Rode Her Bike WITHOUT Training Wheels! Big Girl.

Today Ava rode her bike without training wheels for the first time! 


The first time she got on her bike, I think she practically rode off into the sunset.  The next attempt, she didn't do nearly as well, which I think frustrated her.  After a little more practice, by the end of the night she was riding her bike like a pro!  You would think she had been riding for years... I told Doug I think being on a balance beam every Saturday morning probably helps with her balance and coordination skills.


Peace, love and NO TRAINING WHEELS!
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Goodbye, training wheels!

Ava's 5th Birthday Party

Ava's birthday party was a blast! 

The birthday girl turns FIVE!

When I asked her where she wanted to have it this year, she kept saying "at home, in our back yard".  Last year, it was SO CHILLY outside on her birthday.  It also seems we spend just as much money on a non-home birthday party.  We went through the list... Monkey Joe's?  Jeronimo's?  Chuck E. Cheese?  She was happy with Monkey Joe's.  I had forgotten about her day care going to the skating rink, but when I remembered, I asked her if she wanted to have her party there.  She was super happy about having the party at the roller rink.  We struggled with the "how many people do we invite?" question... To include school friends, or not to include school friends.  The school's policy asks that if one classmate is invited that all be invited. 


At first I'm sure people thought we were crazy...A skating rink party for a 5 year-old?  How many five year-olds have been skating?  (Ava's been twice before this party).  It couldn't have worked out more perfect, actually!  Sparkles Roller Rink in Kennesaw has a soft play area perfect for little ones.  The skating rink is concrete, so they allow most skates (including the over-the-shoe Fisher Price type).  Ava brought her adjustable skates.  I bought a pair for Liam, too, so he wouldn't be left out.  See pictures below for his first run with the skates... ;-)


When we arrived, Ava, Liam and Doug all did a few loops around the rink.  It was cute to watch them all skate together.  They got to skate to the Black-Eyed Peas "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night," one of Ava and Liam's favorites.  After 10 minutes or so, Ava and Liam played in the soft play area (3 levels or so?) for most of the time.  The kids had a blast.  On Monday at school, I told Veer's Mom thank you for letting him come to the party.  She said Veer had so much fun.  When she asked him how fun it was, on a scale of 1 to 1000, he said "6,000."  Cute.  :)


For quite a few of the kids, it was their first time on skates.  Matthew, Olivia, Veer, Avery, Alana, Mekhi and Liam had their first skating rink experience.  This was Ava's third time skating.  I don't think she fell once?


Party attendees included:
Veer (from school)
Sara (from school)
Avery (from school)
Lily
Mekhi
Ryan-Ashton
Kylyn
Alana
Parker
Caleb
Zoey (neighbor)
Lucy (neighbor)
Olivia (neighbor)
Nicholas (neighbor)
Matthew (neighbor)
Liam


It was a good thing we had the party indoors.  It rained the entire day and hasn't seemed to stop since!  Ava wanted a princess cupcake / cake combo with whipped icing from Sam's Club.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the cake.  It was yummy!  Ava helped with the labels for the goodie bags, printing her friend's name on each one, drawing a happy face on it, as well. 


I made different colored chocolate roller skate suckers, too.  It was an afterthought, but I was able to order the molds from a place in New Jersey in time.  They arrived on Friday night, so I was able to QUICKLY make the suckers for the party the next morning.  The kids seemed to enjoy them.  Ava took the left-overs to school on Monday.  Because these suckers were an afterthought, I wasn't too stressed about them getting here on time.  Between not stressing about sucker molds and not needing the house to be spic-and-span for a birthday party, it was nice.  The only requirement:  Cake and showing up at the roller rink with goodie bags.  Bonus!


After the party seemed to be well-controlled, I decided to go for a few laps around the rink myself.  So I put on the rental skates and did my thang.  I ended-up ALMOST falling when I switched from skating backward to forward.  Lucky me, Doug got it on tape. :)  It is pretty different skating on concrete than on wooden floors.  I felt like I was going to fall at any minute, the wheels were so fast on the concrete!   Other parents (Christy Craig, Melissa Baillairge and Amy Hoffman) seemed to have fun on skates, as well.  It seemed like everyone was able to enjoy themselves.  Even our neighbor friend Zoey was able to enjoy the play area with some help from her mama (Kristi). 


After the party, we opened gifts at home while Liam was sleeping.  We didn't want him to be TOO upset about Ava's gifts.  Poor thing, he doesn't understand why he isn't getting the same number of gifts. :( 


Peace, love and FIVE birthday candles!
Shelly, Doug, the birthday girl and Liam

Trying out his skates pre-party, minus pajama pants?

Bedhead Liam missing his pajama pants

Party favors

Ava helped with the invitations and inserts.  She signed each of them "Love, Ava". 
This was her first attempt at a comma. ;-)
She also wrote out each of the labels for her friends' goodie bags.
After opening her gifts, she also wrote out the thank you cards. 
Tough work for a just-turned-five year-old!

The invitations

Ava with her first project at her "activity center"

Liam has a side he can use, too! 

This gift was PERFECT for Ava this year, given her love of crafts.

One happy girl!