Miss Crafty

Ava is unbelievably crafty. So much so, that we have papers and artwork strewn throughout our entire house. I think she has a future in recyclable art! She can take absolutely anything and make a craft out of it.


When we first started talking about her upcoming birthday and party, she immediately began making art and crafts for her friends, as invitations. I think it's sweet that she really enjoys making things to give to others. It seems as if it is her favorite thing to do. She started decorating paint stirrers / shims, coloring them with different colored markers. She put stickers on them and put them in a pile to give to friends.


Ava could spend HOURS at the kitchen table doing crafts. We've figured out the perfect gift for her for her birthday. You'll just have to wait a week or so to see what we picked. :)


One thing I've enjoyed is seeing how she phonetically spells things on her artwork. She wrote the following on a piece of paper and taped it to a box:

As you might be able to tell, it is her "Birthday Box," in which she puts all things "birthday". :)


She also recently wrote a letter to her sweet school friend Jack Passman, to give to him with his gift at his 5th birthday party last weekend. I wish I would've taken a picture of it! She wrote a note telling Jack "Happy birthday" and asking if he could come over for a sleepover party sometime. Adorable. Ava and Jack have been classmates the longest, out of all of Ava's school friends. Jack's Mom asked Doug if Ava wrote the note on her own. She was really impressed when we told her Ava didn't need any help. :) Mrs. Passman said she had to concentrate to figure out what it said, but eventually figured it out. Jack's Mom said she was going to keep it, as it was Jack's first "sweet note from a girl". She thought it was utterly adorable.
See below for samples of Ava's artwork. Who knows, maybe one day these will come with a high price. :)
Peace, love and Crayola stock,
Shelly, Doug, the artist formerly known as Ava, Liam

She's really been drawing quite a few "swirlies" (my term) lately. Kind of Van Gogh-ish, don't you think?

Writing out her name and birthday

One of her favorite shows: Tom and Jerry

I'm not sure exactly what this is, but it does say "From Ava". It looks like a bridge of some sort.

July 3: Daddy's (Dade) birthday

Quite colorful, which is very typical of anything she colors

For a while there, Ava was fascinated with how to spell things. She would sit at the kitchen table for hours and ask us "How do you spell ___?" She often asked how to spell "brainhorse". I'm not sure why. I told her it was two words and that most people probably wouldn't put both of those words together. Today I asked her again where she heard it. She said no one told her the word, she made it up. So below, you will see a few pages dedicated to "Brainhorse".

Brainhorse again.

Yep, Brainhorse again.

Ava's collage of plants, cut from a mail-order seed catalog.

I Luv U

What appears to be a castle and swirlies.

I will have to ask her what these two people are doing. I'm wondering if is two people on a playground / swings.

A few bats and a bear. She did pretty well with the bear, I'd say!

I believe she told me this was a castle.

She wrote this quite some time ago. Sodr, for "Island of Sodor," from Thomas the Train.

Self portrait? I see what looks like a belly button, too. I remember my nephew Daymian drawing those, as well, when he was about her age. I thought it was hilarious that he drew them, as clothes normally cover belly buttons. But he insisted on drawing them. Cute that Ava includes them, as well.

I think she started drawing a princess here.

Piggy

I will have to ask her what this was about. I'm sure that is a self portrait, though.

She sounded out "Pegasus" by herself.





























Drawn with the help of the Lego table at school.

Schoolwork.

Another one of Ava's colorful creations.

We're busting at the seams with toys, crayons and the like. This is my tower of organization, in hopes of trumping the insanity. :)

Grandmother's Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This is my first attempt at the under-over pie lattice thang. I found out I have a fellow rhubarb fan in Ava. :) Doug's not exactly a rhubarb fan.

I have happy memories of family gatherings where rhubarb pie was consumed.  In a bowl.  With milk poured over it.  Grandmother and Grandfather used to grow rhubarb in their backyard on Studebaker.  Good memories.


Ava had her own pastry mound going while this pie baked...towers 'o pastry! :)  I think we had the most fun eating it together afterward, though!


Peace, love and 3.1415927,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Happy Holidays!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas this year!

We're in the midst of celebrating the holiday season and this time of year, which helps us reflect on everything with which we've been blessed.

This year, we went for a free carriage ride at The Avenue. IT was a bit chilly waiting in line, but we made our way through it and enjoyed a warm snuggly ride with our friends the Hoffmans. Liam has been teething lately, so I was just glad he made it through the ride! He enjoyed watching the horses as we waited for our turn.

We also went to the His Kidz Christmas play at church on Saturday. Kids 13 years and younger can act in the play. They did an amazing job! Ava really seemed to enjoy the play, singing and "choreography". She clapped enthusiastically after ever number. Liam also sat through 2/3 of the play, before Doug got up and walked around with him in the back. (I was suprised that Liam made it that far, honestly!)

Liam now says: car, truck, duck, tower, flower, Mama, Daddy, more, Ava, tree, thank you (tay-too), apple, ball, block. I'm sure there are others, but these are what come to mind right now.

Ava has such an amazing memory. I don't know how she remembers half the things she does! She is excited to celebrate Christmas this year and asked Santa to bring her lots of toys (when I told her she could have one big toy or lots of less big toys, she opted for "lots of toys"). She also mentioned that she will be happy with whatever Santa brings to her. That made my heart melt. She wants a "purple coat and a small blue coat to give to Liam". I think it's so sweet that she is thinking of her little brother and trying to be his voice for Santa. She wants to make sure Santa doesn't forget to bring something to Liam!

When we wrote out Ava's letter to Santa, Ava started out by saying that she thinks Rudolph is cute and that she hopes he is okay. It was at that point that she asked for the purple coat, etc. I have no idea why she asked for a purple coat. Too funny. Maybe because she already has a pink one and a blue one... :-) I think she was actually asking for a purple snowsuit (not coat)...

The tree is up (lit and decorated), I made four recipes of truffles this year (Oreo truffles, Kraft's simply elegant chocolate truffle recipe, buckeyes, cookie dough truffles), I've had my fill of hot spiced cider and we've had a holiday party celebrating with friends in our home. It doesn't get any better than that. Everything else is gravy. But I'm sure there will be gravy on the menu before the year is up... ;-)

I love to watch the look on Ava and Liam's faces as they see Christmas lights and decorations. Liam's repetoire of words isn't lengthy, but lengthy enough that he can say "Oooh! Wow!!!" whenever he sees houses lit up with lights. :-)

Life is good.

Peace, love and starry-eyed babes,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

First Attempt At Dress-Making

I saw the sweetest dress on a little girl named Emerson at church.  When I told her Mom that I loved the dress, she told me she MADE it.  I was seriously impressed!  It wasn't an elaborate pattern or anything, but was a sweet pink print with Parisian buildings on it, with brown accents.  It was trimmed with brown-colored ball trim and brown ribbon served as the straps which tied at the shoulders.  It was adorable.  It might help that Emerson herself is adorable, completely outgoing and 100% full of sweetness.  :)  I later found out the dress is what is called a "pillowcase" dress.  Very simple in pattern but you can jazz it up as much as you would like. 

I then set out to find just the right material.  I was going to make a similar dress for Ava.  Nevermind that I don't know how to use my sewing machine my Grandmother gave me as a college graduation present...SIX. YEARS. EARLIER.  (Okay, so it might not have helped my confidence level when she mentioned: "Just DO NOT break the bobbin.  Do anything, but DON'T BREAK THE BOBBIN." Umm... yeah, so what is a bobbin?) 

My friend Amy is a fantastic seamstress, sewing many of her own costumes for shows, etc.  I enlisted her help.  She was just the right person to ask!   

I bought a very simple pattern.  I headed over to Amy's house for a night of sewing.  We ended-up altering the dress somewhat once we saw how "A-line" the dress was going to be...It looked like it would end-up too wide for Ava, so we cut-out some of the material.  I LOVED how it turned-out!   I'm completely a fan of most things "retro", so I loved the "Dick and Jane" type material I found.  I went for green accents, which I thought wouldn't be the most obvious color choice, but would be surprisingly cute.  They really seemed to compliment each other well.  We lined the dress, too, to give it some weight.  I made the ribbon straps fairly long, so Ava will be able to wear the dress for a long time.

Amy actually made a similar dress for our friend Melissa's little girl Alana, after seeing how easy this dress was to make.  Her dress was adorable, too!

I don't plan on becoming a seamstress, but thought this was the perfect dress on which to learn.  Thanks to Amy for donating her time, patience, meticulous sewing skills and instruction to me. 

And p.s. - Grandmother, I DIDN'T break the bobbin!  ;-)

Peace, love and oh sew cute,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam