Ava LOVES to read. We moved her books from the stairway runners to their own bookshelf. This seems to make the house look a bit more tidy, and she LOVES it. She can now reach any book she wishes to read. I think the books are on the floor more than they are on the shelves. She will pull a book (or many) down, go down and sit in a random spot on the floor, and start reading to herself. We chuckle when we hear her read, because she uses SO! MUCH! EXPRESSION! You wonder what story she is trying to relay to us.
She loves to give kisses. She will pull my or Doug's face close with both of her hands, and give us a kiss on the mouth. It is the sweetest thing! Fortunately for us, she now closes her mouth when she gives kisses. Sometimes she blows air out of her mouth before she gives kisses.
She no longer seems to miss her pacifier. She has most of her teeth, now: all four top teeth are in, three of the front-bottom teeth, at least one of her 1-year molars is entirely through and the others are coming in quickly, too.
When we dump water over her head in the bathtub, she now yells "yay". I don't think she enjoys it, but at least she's not sucking air and water in at the same time! It works.
She LOVES the bathtub and the pool. When we ask if she is ready for a bath, she runs around the house yelling "Bah! Bah!" with much enthusiasm. She now kicks her legs in the water, and seems to be very comfortable in the pool. She is definitely Daddy's girl when in the pool, for some reason. Hmm, could it be the # of times I've dunked her underwater? Possibly? She is getting to the point now where she will almost jump off of the side by herself, when I'm barely holding her.
Ava really likes to jump now. It's hysterical to watch, because she doesn't ever leave the ground. She just looks like she's a member of the 80's group Devo, dancing like she has Tourette's. She can ALMOST leave the ground now, when jumping.
It's interesting the phases through which Ava goes. She rediscovered a huge soft puppy dog stuffed animal which we bought for Valentine's Day. She decided she wanted to take it to bed with her this week. When Doug woke her up in the morning, she brought it downstairs. When he tried to put it on the floor before she ate breakfast, she was opposed and threw a fit. A new friend, I guess.
She waves like she was taught by Miss America. I have no idea where she learned to turn her hand the way she does???
Ava's vocabulary now consists of:
Mama (and Mommy)
Dad-da (and Daddy)
Hi (whenever I pick her up from day care, she greets me with a big "Hi!!!!")
Bye (and Bye-bye)
Her first sentence is "Bye-bye, Daddy" (She says this often)
Book (a FAVORITE word these days. "Buuh, buuh!")
More ("Moh, Moh" she now will sign "more" with her hands when she wants more food)
Wow
No
Yay!
Uh-oh
Bath (bah)
Ba-ba (drink)
Baby
Shoe (shoe)
Mmmm (yum. She's sure to emphasize how much she enjoys chocolate milk... "mmm!")
Cow
Car
Truck
Bus (bah - she points to school buses when they drive by)
Vroom Vroom (when she sees a car)
Dog (daw)
woof-woof (when we ask what a doggie says)
Duck
Quack-quack
Ooh-ooh-ooh (when we ask what a monkey says, or when she sees a banana)
Meow (when we ask what a kitty-cat says)
Waah, waah, waah (when we ask what a baby does)
Baaa (when we ask what a lamb says)
Bear (Beah, when she wants her teddy bear)
Ball
Balloon (bah)
Yuck (kuh, kuh, kuh)
Fish (she has only said this a handful of times)
Love you (she said this ONCE...)
Please (she said this only ONCE, too)
Friday, July 06, 2007
Happy Birthday, Doug & Happy July 4th!!!
Doug turned 35 on Tuesday, July 3rd! He was extremely busy at work, leading up to his birthday, with a deadline at noon on his birthday. So, he decided he just wanted to relax for his birthday. We grilled some hamburgers, which was nice. He requested a Carvel ice cream cake this year, just like Miss Sydney had for her 9th birthday, so we bought an oreo cookie Carvel ice cream cake, which we all enjoyed.
Happy Birthday to Aunt Linda, whose birthday is on July 4th!!!! :-) We love you!
For the 4th, we also relaxed and went to the pool. We planned on heading to some fireworks with friends, but Doug thought it might be a bit late for the little one, considering the next day was a work day. Because the 4th is all about fireworks(!), I wanted to at least show Ava what sparklers were all about. We went to four different stores looking for fireworks, but were unsuccessful. I'm thinking they must be outlawed in GA, now??? So, we returned home to watch the Tigers beat the Indians. (Doug's parents were at the game, so we had to watch for them!) Ava was fast-asleep for at least an hour before the festivities began, and never even woke up from any neighboring fireworks. As the 4th fell on a Wednesday this year, it felt strange to go back to work for only two days??? Kind of nice!
The Little Firecracker
Happy 4th,
Shelly
Ava at 14 Months
Okay, I am SO late in posting this, but I wanted to be sure to post this before Ava's 15 month post, so here it is...
It has been so fun to watch Ava's personality develop, especially over the past few months. She "talks" non-stop now, and seems to understand quite a bit of what we say. We gave up on the sign-language thing, as Ava seemed to understand the word / say the word before we could teach the sign to her.
Her vocabulary now includes the following words and phrases. This may look like quite a few words, but she doesn't say them phoenitically correct or anything, we just know what she's trying to say (so truck might be "trruh").
Mama (and Mommy, occasionally)
Dad-da (and Daddy, occasionally)
Hi
Bye (and Bye-bye)
Wow
No
Yay!
Uh-oh
Bath (bah)
Ba-ba (drink)
Baby
Shoe (shoe)
Mmmm (yum)
Cow
Car
Truck
Bus (bah - she points to school buses when they drive by)
Vroom Vroom (when she sees a car)
Dog
woof-woof (when we ask what a doggie says)
Duck
Quack-quack
Ooh-ooh-ooh (when we ask what a monkey says, or when she sees a banana)
Ball
Balloon (bah)
Yuck (kuh)
Fish (she has only said this a handful of times)
Love you (she said this ONCE...)
Please (she said this only ONCE, too)
She likes to spin in circles when dancing and listening to music. She also has this crazy hand-motion thing she does when listening to music, now. (I will try to get it on video if possible). She is often overcome with pure joy and squeals / grins with "twinkling" eyes. If she is in her car seat, she will (almost) violently shake her head from side to side, to dance with the music. While sitting in her car seat, she almost always finds a way to remove her sandals from her feet, or a bow from her hair.
She is currently cutting a mouthful of teeth! All four of her one-year molars are coming in simultaneously. She seems to be handling it pretty well. While in MI, she was cutting the first two on the first two days we were there. After a fever of 101.5 and some crankiness, she made it through.
We stopped giving the pacifier to Ava last week. She has done well without it. On a few car rides since, we've noticed she will suck on her fingers or thumb. She's never done this, so we're thinking it's because she's missing her pacifier. Yesterday I gave her a pacifier before her afternoon nap, as I could tell she was in some teething pain. She was CHEWING on it like there was no tomorrow, so I think it will be okay to give it to her only when teething in extreme.
We take Ava to a neighboring sub-division pool, which she now seems to enjoy. She enjoys being held by Mommy or Daddy or floating around in her baby raft. She likes to watch people jump off the diving boards, too.
Sunday night before bed, while shopping at the grocery store, five people must've come up to us while we were on a shopping trip, to say hello to Ava. This was BEFORE we even made it to the check-out line. She (loudly) babbled her way through the entire grocery store last night. She is ever-so-social in public, waving "hi" and "bye", saying hello / bye-bye to complete strangers. When they get close, she might get a bit shy, but enjoys waving and greeting them from a distance.
Doug and I had a scare last weekend. We had the doors to the bathroom and our bedroom closed, as Ava likes to run literal "circles" around our house (and because we have yet to officially baby-proof our bathroom cabinets), the stairway gates were locked, and all doors leading to the outside were closed and locked. Doug and I were in the kitchen, and didn't see Ava anywhere. We then freaked-out because we yelled her name and she didn't come to us. We went around the house for a good minute, saying her name, trying to find her. At first I didn't think anything of it, but when she didn't answer, I started to get concerned. Doug found her hiding on the floor, between a chair and the fireplace hearth, playing with my cell phone. She knew that if we knew where she was, we would take the phone away from her. When she saw us, she started crying. I'm not sure if it was because she was caught red-handed, or because we scared her with the tone of our voices. :-)
This week, Doug was in the driveway putting his lunch / coffee, etc in his truck before work. Ava stood on her little tip-toes, leaned on the lever handle and opened the door to the stairway. Fortunately, at the time, I was close, watching and curious to see if she knew how to open the door. She does!?! So, I guess we will need to now lock the door when either Doug or I walk down the stairs for anything little thing!
When at the beach condo over Memorial Day weekend, Doug and I were getting ready in the bathroom, when we asked each other where Ava was. Both of our responses were: "I thought you had her". :( Keep in mind it wasn't 20 seconds since I last saw her. Walking (okay, running) out of the bathroom, I noticed the front door of our SIXTH FLOOR condo was open. Oy-yoy-yoy. I looked outside the door and saw Ava running, about 30 feet down the hallway. Unbelievable. I'm not sure if it was Ava or Will Flanigan who opened the door, but either way, you can see we can't take our eyes off her for one second... Please don't report us to Children's Protective Services yet... :-) I'm sure every parent has a story like this one, if not many stories...
She likes to color with crayons, although her attention span coloring on one page is somewhat short right now. I'm not sure if she is constantly on the go / moving around because of her teeth / gums, right now, or if it is just this age. Probably both. The last few nights, she will NOT sit still. I'm sure this restlessness is due to her sore gums. She holds the crayon with her RIGHT hand, making Mommy proud, leaving Daddy (the "lefty") shaking his head in disbelief. She now likes to feed herself with a fork and spoon. Regardless of what is on the fork or spoon, she eats it because she feels like a "big girl".
She now runs everywhere. When it's time to brush her teeth / hair / change, etc, we have to chase her around the house. She's getting pretty fast! She loves to slide at the park, and can climb up some things with practice. Fortunately she's not yet much of a climber at our house (she doesn't realize she can climb up on the couch, chairs, etc). I'm sure those days are ahead of us, though.
Her little giggle is entirely infectious. It melts your heart to hear her cackling away.
When walking through Target's toy area yesterday, you would've thought Ava struck gold. She was squealing / smiling / grabbing for every toy on the shelf. Ironically, we ended-up buying a plastic formula dispenser that Doug or I didn't put in the cart... We didn't realize this until we got home. SOMEONE must've thought we needed it, though! :-)
Ava seems to thrive on schedules and all things predictable. She wakes up at 7 a.m. every day and goes to sleep at 8 p.m. at night, and stays down for the night. While on vacation or out later, she goes right down for the night when we place her in her own pack-and-play or crib. She loves to brush her teeth in the morning while standing on the counter. She hates to have her nails / toenails trimmed. She hates to have her mouth wiped after meals.
She still loves her baby pancakes, bananas, yogurt, frozen "go-gurt", strawberries, graham crackers, pasta, sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, peanut butter on toast. I'm constantly mindful of what she is eating, as I am trying to be conscious about keeping her food horizons as broad as possible. I am adamant that our kid won't be the "chicken nugget" kid, eating only chicken nuggets. So far, she seems to eat whatever we put in front of her, although she might not like one thing on a particular day (although she will eat that same item the next day). I'm just trying to keep it fresh every day, which is hard to do!
Ava loves Jesus. :-) She likes to give him a big kiss when she sees "Baby's First Bible". Ava also loves her "Tickle Me Elmo", but she would rather pick him up and hug him. This makes it awkward when Elmo is trying to throw himself down on the floor, while Ava is trying to carry him somewhere. It's pretty funny to watch.
She is learning exponentially now. It's so fun to watch!
With love,
Shelly
It has been so fun to watch Ava's personality develop, especially over the past few months. She "talks" non-stop now, and seems to understand quite a bit of what we say. We gave up on the sign-language thing, as Ava seemed to understand the word / say the word before we could teach the sign to her.
Her vocabulary now includes the following words and phrases. This may look like quite a few words, but she doesn't say them phoenitically correct or anything, we just know what she's trying to say (so truck might be "trruh").
Mama (and Mommy, occasionally)
Dad-da (and Daddy, occasionally)
Hi
Bye (and Bye-bye)
Wow
No
Yay!
Uh-oh
Bath (bah)
Ba-ba (drink)
Baby
Shoe (shoe)
Mmmm (yum)
Cow
Car
Truck
Bus (bah - she points to school buses when they drive by)
Vroom Vroom (when she sees a car)
Dog
woof-woof (when we ask what a doggie says)
Duck
Quack-quack
Ooh-ooh-ooh (when we ask what a monkey says, or when she sees a banana)
Ball
Balloon (bah)
Yuck (kuh)
Fish (she has only said this a handful of times)
Love you (she said this ONCE...)
Please (she said this only ONCE, too)
She likes to spin in circles when dancing and listening to music. She also has this crazy hand-motion thing she does when listening to music, now. (I will try to get it on video if possible). She is often overcome with pure joy and squeals / grins with "twinkling" eyes. If she is in her car seat, she will (almost) violently shake her head from side to side, to dance with the music. While sitting in her car seat, she almost always finds a way to remove her sandals from her feet, or a bow from her hair.
She is currently cutting a mouthful of teeth! All four of her one-year molars are coming in simultaneously. She seems to be handling it pretty well. While in MI, she was cutting the first two on the first two days we were there. After a fever of 101.5 and some crankiness, she made it through.
We stopped giving the pacifier to Ava last week. She has done well without it. On a few car rides since, we've noticed she will suck on her fingers or thumb. She's never done this, so we're thinking it's because she's missing her pacifier. Yesterday I gave her a pacifier before her afternoon nap, as I could tell she was in some teething pain. She was CHEWING on it like there was no tomorrow, so I think it will be okay to give it to her only when teething in extreme.
We take Ava to a neighboring sub-division pool, which she now seems to enjoy. She enjoys being held by Mommy or Daddy or floating around in her baby raft. She likes to watch people jump off the diving boards, too.
Sunday night before bed, while shopping at the grocery store, five people must've come up to us while we were on a shopping trip, to say hello to Ava. This was BEFORE we even made it to the check-out line. She (loudly) babbled her way through the entire grocery store last night. She is ever-so-social in public, waving "hi" and "bye", saying hello / bye-bye to complete strangers. When they get close, she might get a bit shy, but enjoys waving and greeting them from a distance.
Doug and I had a scare last weekend. We had the doors to the bathroom and our bedroom closed, as Ava likes to run literal "circles" around our house (and because we have yet to officially baby-proof our bathroom cabinets), the stairway gates were locked, and all doors leading to the outside were closed and locked. Doug and I were in the kitchen, and didn't see Ava anywhere. We then freaked-out because we yelled her name and she didn't come to us. We went around the house for a good minute, saying her name, trying to find her. At first I didn't think anything of it, but when she didn't answer, I started to get concerned. Doug found her hiding on the floor, between a chair and the fireplace hearth, playing with my cell phone. She knew that if we knew where she was, we would take the phone away from her. When she saw us, she started crying. I'm not sure if it was because she was caught red-handed, or because we scared her with the tone of our voices. :-)
This week, Doug was in the driveway putting his lunch / coffee, etc in his truck before work. Ava stood on her little tip-toes, leaned on the lever handle and opened the door to the stairway. Fortunately, at the time, I was close, watching and curious to see if she knew how to open the door. She does!?! So, I guess we will need to now lock the door when either Doug or I walk down the stairs for anything little thing!
When at the beach condo over Memorial Day weekend, Doug and I were getting ready in the bathroom, when we asked each other where Ava was. Both of our responses were: "I thought you had her". :( Keep in mind it wasn't 20 seconds since I last saw her. Walking (okay, running) out of the bathroom, I noticed the front door of our SIXTH FLOOR condo was open. Oy-yoy-yoy. I looked outside the door and saw Ava running, about 30 feet down the hallway. Unbelievable. I'm not sure if it was Ava or Will Flanigan who opened the door, but either way, you can see we can't take our eyes off her for one second... Please don't report us to Children's Protective Services yet... :-) I'm sure every parent has a story like this one, if not many stories...
She likes to color with crayons, although her attention span coloring on one page is somewhat short right now. I'm not sure if she is constantly on the go / moving around because of her teeth / gums, right now, or if it is just this age. Probably both. The last few nights, she will NOT sit still. I'm sure this restlessness is due to her sore gums. She holds the crayon with her RIGHT hand, making Mommy proud, leaving Daddy (the "lefty") shaking his head in disbelief. She now likes to feed herself with a fork and spoon. Regardless of what is on the fork or spoon, she eats it because she feels like a "big girl".
She now runs everywhere. When it's time to brush her teeth / hair / change, etc, we have to chase her around the house. She's getting pretty fast! She loves to slide at the park, and can climb up some things with practice. Fortunately she's not yet much of a climber at our house (she doesn't realize she can climb up on the couch, chairs, etc). I'm sure those days are ahead of us, though.
Her little giggle is entirely infectious. It melts your heart to hear her cackling away.
When walking through Target's toy area yesterday, you would've thought Ava struck gold. She was squealing / smiling / grabbing for every toy on the shelf. Ironically, we ended-up buying a plastic formula dispenser that Doug or I didn't put in the cart... We didn't realize this until we got home. SOMEONE must've thought we needed it, though! :-)
Ava seems to thrive on schedules and all things predictable. She wakes up at 7 a.m. every day and goes to sleep at 8 p.m. at night, and stays down for the night. While on vacation or out later, she goes right down for the night when we place her in her own pack-and-play or crib. She loves to brush her teeth in the morning while standing on the counter. She hates to have her nails / toenails trimmed. She hates to have her mouth wiped after meals.
She still loves her baby pancakes, bananas, yogurt, frozen "go-gurt", strawberries, graham crackers, pasta, sandwiches, cheese quesadillas, peanut butter on toast. I'm constantly mindful of what she is eating, as I am trying to be conscious about keeping her food horizons as broad as possible. I am adamant that our kid won't be the "chicken nugget" kid, eating only chicken nuggets. So far, she seems to eat whatever we put in front of her, although she might not like one thing on a particular day (although she will eat that same item the next day). I'm just trying to keep it fresh every day, which is hard to do!
Ava loves Jesus. :-) She likes to give him a big kiss when she sees "Baby's First Bible". Ava also loves her "Tickle Me Elmo", but she would rather pick him up and hug him. This makes it awkward when Elmo is trying to throw himself down on the floor, while Ava is trying to carry him somewhere. It's pretty funny to watch.
She is learning exponentially now. It's so fun to watch!
With love,
Shelly
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Root, Root, Root for the HOME Team!
Saturday we went to watch the Tigers play the Braves at Turner Field. It was a hot one, with the temp somewhere around 95 degrees. This is before you figure in the Georgia summer humidity!!! Ava wore her pink Braves hat, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Griffith. Doug and I had to represent the home team, our Detroit Tigers! We received some comments on our "old English D" duds (all good) from some fellow Tigers fans.
Ava did amazingly well, considering the heat. (Don't worry Grandmas, we slathered Ava in 45 SPF). We all split some "Dippin' Dots" ice cream to try to cool off. Verlander pitched something fierce for most of the game. Tigers' Guillen went on the offense early, hitting in two runs. We then saw Chipper (Jones, an ATL Brave) hit the only Braves' homer, the final score: Tigers 2, Braves 1.
Luckily our seats were in a Tigers' fan-friendly section, so we cheered them on with the rest of our section. It was nice to see such a great turn-out for Detroit. Even Ava clapped and yelled "Yay!" a few times.
In the land of the free and the home of the Braves,
Shelly
Ava did amazingly well, considering the heat. (Don't worry Grandmas, we slathered Ava in 45 SPF). We all split some "Dippin' Dots" ice cream to try to cool off. Verlander pitched something fierce for most of the game. Tigers' Guillen went on the offense early, hitting in two runs. We then saw Chipper (Jones, an ATL Brave) hit the only Braves' homer, the final score: Tigers 2, Braves 1.
Luckily our seats were in a Tigers' fan-friendly section, so we cheered them on with the rest of our section. It was nice to see such a great turn-out for Detroit. Even Ava clapped and yelled "Yay!" a few times.
In the land of the free and the home of the Braves,
Shelly
Friday, June 22, 2007
Our Voracious Reader
I don't know how it happened. It's like she's been eating Miracle-Gro or something. It happened so fast. Our sweet little baby has turned into a little girl overnight.
Just this week, she has been trying to say so many new words! It's hard to keep up with them all, shes's starting to say so many. She can finally communicate by nodding "yes" and saying "yeah, yeah, yeah", if she does, in fact, want something. "No" definitely prefaced the "yes" head-nod, but I'm glad she can now do both. Knowing she can say these two words alone, somehow give me a sense of relief. Am I strange for thinking this? (okay, don't answer that question :-)
She loves books. "Book" and "bath" sound similar when Ava says them. When we ask her if she wants a "bath", she will run around the house, sounding French, saying "bah! bah! bah! bah!" "Book" sounds more like "booh, booh, booh".
She has learned how to do a somersault, and puts her head on the ground and looks at the world upside-down quite often. I think she's done two somersaults on her own; Mommy and Daddy helped with others. :-)
As you can see in the attached video, she is full of expression while reading her books! In the video, when I tell her to say "bye-bye", I think she's looking around the room for the person to whom she is to say "bye-bye". Kinda funny. I think I also misunderstood her when she was pointing to Elmo. She thinks Elmo is a "doggie". I thought she was pointing to his nose, but I think she was meaning to say "dog", when pointing to Elmo.
Ava Reads
Video sent by thecareyclan
Have a great weekend!
With love,
Shelly
Just this week, she has been trying to say so many new words! It's hard to keep up with them all, shes's starting to say so many. She can finally communicate by nodding "yes" and saying "yeah, yeah, yeah", if she does, in fact, want something. "No" definitely prefaced the "yes" head-nod, but I'm glad she can now do both. Knowing she can say these two words alone, somehow give me a sense of relief. Am I strange for thinking this? (okay, don't answer that question :-)
She loves books. "Book" and "bath" sound similar when Ava says them. When we ask her if she wants a "bath", she will run around the house, sounding French, saying "bah! bah! bah! bah!" "Book" sounds more like "booh, booh, booh".
She has learned how to do a somersault, and puts her head on the ground and looks at the world upside-down quite often. I think she's done two somersaults on her own; Mommy and Daddy helped with others. :-)
As you can see in the attached video, she is full of expression while reading her books! In the video, when I tell her to say "bye-bye", I think she's looking around the room for the person to whom she is to say "bye-bye". Kinda funny. I think I also misunderstood her when she was pointing to Elmo. She thinks Elmo is a "doggie". I thought she was pointing to his nose, but I think she was meaning to say "dog", when pointing to Elmo.
Ava Reads
Video sent by thecareyclan
Have a great weekend!
With love,
Shelly
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Happy Father's Day!!!!
We were able to celebrate Father's Day this year, just as Doug requested: a little R&R beside the pool, and some grill-action. Ava gave Daddy another "gift" in church, through her contentment in the nursery (i.e.- we weren't paged to come get her :-). She did the same for me on Mother's Day, ironically. :-) We count ALL our blessings, don't we?
Doug, it has been so amazing to watch you as you love and help guide our sweet little one through life. I smile seeing the many "Daddy and Ava" hugs. I know she learns much about the world from you, and looks up to you completely. I am so thankful that she gets to see what a gentleman you are to everyone, how important God is, and how much you love your family. She definitely got lucky with you as her Daddy!
All our love,
Shelly and Ava
Monday, June 18, 2007
interesting quotes
The woman who follows the crowd, will usually go no further than the crowd.The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before. -Albert Einstein
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Carey Clan Reunion!
It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks! Within the past few weeks, we've driven from Florida to Michigan, back to Georgia. We've spent at least 34 hours in the car, on our road trips (11 hours to MI, 6 hours to FL and back again).
After a few days at the beach over the Memorial Day weekend, we drove up to Michigan for a Carey reunion! Doug has three siblings: Joe lives in Phoenix, Kathy lives in Vegas, and Tracy lives in Rochester Hills. It had been at least five years since all of the siblings and their spouses were together.
The Carey Clan
With each of the four kids in different states, it's no small feat to get everyone together in the same place at the same time. Uncle Bill, Aunt Jackie and (cousin) Mike Schuler were all able to come for a weekend, too! So, SEVENTEEN people were able to crash at the Carey casa, over the weekend! The Careys are always the most gracious of hosts. It was great for all of the cousins: Sydney, Payton, Trinity, Madeline and Ava to play together. We will cherish these memories forever! We had a great time and enjoyed catching up with everyone.
Grandma and Grandpa Carey
The siblings: Doug, Joe, Tracy and Kathy
The "Original" Carey Clan
Grandma, Grandpa and the Carey grandkids
Top row: Trinity, Madeline, Ava
Bottom row: Sydney and Payton
The men: Doug, Jeff (Kathy's husband), Grandpa, Payton, Joe
The ladies: Kathy, Shelly, Grandma, Kristy, Trinity, Tracy
In front: Ava, Sydney and Madeline
Joe's family: Trinity, Joe, Kristy and Madeline
Kathy's family: Kathy, Jeff, Sydney, Payton
Uncle Bill and Bosley
Aunt Jackie and a sleeping Maddie Grace
Mitch, I mean Mike...
Maddie (who never cries, with exception to this photo) and Tracy's boyfriend Tom
A Happy Couple: Kathy and Jeff at Pizza Hut
Doug, Ava, Grandma and Madeline at Pizza Hut
The Crew
Payton enjoying some pizza
Grandma and Ava love the balloon animals
Kathy and Jeff cooked / hosted "Mexican night", we went to Pizza Hut for balloon animals one night (thanks to Joe and Kristy) and Doug and I cooked / hosted "Italian night" (complete with The Godfather Soundtrack). One night the Schulers treated with steaks. We were also able to celebrate Sydney's 9th birthday with her. It was fun for all. The weather was beautiful most of the week, with temperatures in the high 80's and sunshine abounding. We went to the Rochester Park one day. We tried (once again) to fly a kite, but there wasn't quite enough wind to let the kite fly. Better luck next time. We played plenty of "Blongo-ball" (aka redneck horseshoes) in the backyard. The kiddos actually got to spend some time in a blow-up pool in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard one afternoon, too. Trinity is a fish! She is fearless around water and dogs!
Kathy, Jeff and Madeline
Enjoying some sunshine in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard
Grandma and Sydney goofin' before Sydney's 9th birthday party
Sydney and Ava having balloon fun
Happy Birthday, Sydney!
The Rocker Chick
Fun Family Photos
Joe and Doug playing "Blongo-ball"
Shelly, Kristy and Maddie playing "blongo-ball"
The first few days, Ava was not a happy girl. I felt so bad when I FINALLY looked at her gums, only to find that her first-year MOLARS had popped through. :( Her teeth seem to be coming in fast and furious these days. She had a fever of 101.5 on Sunday morning, due to teething. Poor thing. Mike also brought Bosley, his french bulldog, for the weekend. Ava likes "doggies", but only from afar! Once Bosley headed back to PA, Ava felt free to venture around Grandma and Grandpa Carey's on her own. She really enjoyed playing with all of her cousins: taking a bath with Trinity, crawling through the tunnel with Sydney, playing at the park with Payton and crying when Mommy held Maddie (can we say jealous?) :-)
Trinity shows Ava the ropes, or should I say "rings"...
A happy girl
Cousin fun (notice Trinity is wearing Sydney's shoes)
Madeline, Shelly and Ava: Waking up
Madeline and her Mommy
We stayed with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill for the rest of the week, enjoying time with them. We were also able to go to Daymian's 10th birthday party at the Rochester Park. It was the perfect day for a fun party! Ava really enjoyed Grandma Pam's "Dora-mobile" and liked to hear music when she pushed the button, and then dance to it. She's a dancin' queen! When she dances now, she likes to spin in a circle with her hands in the air, shaking her head and upper body from side to side. She perfected going up and down one step, practicing over and over, wherever she was during the week. She now says "yaaay!".
A sleeping baby and one of her fans, Grandma Pam
Jordan, Daymian and friends at his 10th birthday party
Enjoying the nice weather and some pizza
Shelly, Ava, Aunt Sherry, Doug, Grandma Dolly and Grandpa Dean
Ava and Jordan feed the ducks
Daddy, Ava and Jordan at the park
Grandpa Dean showing Ava the world from a different perspective
Aunt Sherry and Ava
Grandpa Dean gives Daymian a big birthday hug
Daymian playing football with some friends
Daddy and Ava
Jordan, Aunt Sherry and Ava walking through the creek
Daymian's Spiderman 3 cake
Our family at the park
Hangin' out at the party
Ava taking a break
She also learned how to use a fork effectively. When feeding strawberries to Ava while in her high chair, she liked to stab the strawberries with a fork (right-handed :-) and eat them. We would clap for her accomplishment. When she stabbed "air" and put the fork in her mouth, she would solicit us for applause and clap for herself, even if she didn't eat a strawberry. Nice try, kiddo!
Ava seemed to learn quite a bit just by watching her older cousins. Trinity has a DEFINITE shoe fetish, which I think Ava picked-up... Now I find Ava trying on my sandals, as well as Doug's. It was too funny to watch how well Trinity walked in my sandals: down steps, in the grass, through the kitchen, etc. It was hard to lose her, hearing her clickety-clacking around in my heels :-) In the picture below of Aunt Tracy and Maddie, look in the background to see how well Trinity walks in heels, namely mine!
Madeline and Aunt Tracy
Grandma Dolly also taught Ava how to bat her eyelashes! I'm not sure how this came to be, but it was hysterical to watch. Ava will sit there and bat her eyelashes five or six times (back at you), if you bat your eyelashes at her. Diva-in-training, I guess you could say! (Unfortunately we didn't get the video on our regular digital camera, so I don't think I can post the eyelash-batting video...)
Ava has been an absolute angel on our long car rides. I was surprised at how well she did, truthfully. We are SO thankful for that! We're glad to be sleeping in our own bed again, but miss the amazing fun and hugs we received throughout the past week.
Sending long-distance hugs your way!
All you need is
Love,
Shelly, Doug and Ava
Ava and Daddy feeding the ducks at the park
After a few days at the beach over the Memorial Day weekend, we drove up to Michigan for a Carey reunion! Doug has three siblings: Joe lives in Phoenix, Kathy lives in Vegas, and Tracy lives in Rochester Hills. It had been at least five years since all of the siblings and their spouses were together.
The Carey Clan
With each of the four kids in different states, it's no small feat to get everyone together in the same place at the same time. Uncle Bill, Aunt Jackie and (cousin) Mike Schuler were all able to come for a weekend, too! So, SEVENTEEN people were able to crash at the Carey casa, over the weekend! The Careys are always the most gracious of hosts. It was great for all of the cousins: Sydney, Payton, Trinity, Madeline and Ava to play together. We will cherish these memories forever! We had a great time and enjoyed catching up with everyone.
Grandma and Grandpa Carey
The siblings: Doug, Joe, Tracy and Kathy
The "Original" Carey Clan
Grandma, Grandpa and the Carey grandkids
Top row: Trinity, Madeline, Ava
Bottom row: Sydney and Payton
The men: Doug, Jeff (Kathy's husband), Grandpa, Payton, Joe
The ladies: Kathy, Shelly, Grandma, Kristy, Trinity, Tracy
In front: Ava, Sydney and Madeline
Joe's family: Trinity, Joe, Kristy and Madeline
Kathy's family: Kathy, Jeff, Sydney, Payton
Uncle Bill and Bosley
Aunt Jackie and a sleeping Maddie Grace
Mitch, I mean Mike...
Maddie (who never cries, with exception to this photo) and Tracy's boyfriend Tom
A Happy Couple: Kathy and Jeff at Pizza Hut
Doug, Ava, Grandma and Madeline at Pizza Hut
The Crew
Payton enjoying some pizza
Grandma and Ava love the balloon animals
Kathy and Jeff cooked / hosted "Mexican night", we went to Pizza Hut for balloon animals one night (thanks to Joe and Kristy) and Doug and I cooked / hosted "Italian night" (complete with The Godfather Soundtrack). One night the Schulers treated with steaks. We were also able to celebrate Sydney's 9th birthday with her. It was fun for all. The weather was beautiful most of the week, with temperatures in the high 80's and sunshine abounding. We went to the Rochester Park one day. We tried (once again) to fly a kite, but there wasn't quite enough wind to let the kite fly. Better luck next time. We played plenty of "Blongo-ball" (aka redneck horseshoes) in the backyard. The kiddos actually got to spend some time in a blow-up pool in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard one afternoon, too. Trinity is a fish! She is fearless around water and dogs!
Kathy, Jeff and Madeline
Enjoying some sunshine in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard
Grandma and Sydney goofin' before Sydney's 9th birthday party
Sydney and Ava having balloon fun
Happy Birthday, Sydney!
The Rocker Chick
Fun Family Photos
Joe and Doug playing "Blongo-ball"
Shelly, Kristy and Maddie playing "blongo-ball"
The first few days, Ava was not a happy girl. I felt so bad when I FINALLY looked at her gums, only to find that her first-year MOLARS had popped through. :( Her teeth seem to be coming in fast and furious these days. She had a fever of 101.5 on Sunday morning, due to teething. Poor thing. Mike also brought Bosley, his french bulldog, for the weekend. Ava likes "doggies", but only from afar! Once Bosley headed back to PA, Ava felt free to venture around Grandma and Grandpa Carey's on her own. She really enjoyed playing with all of her cousins: taking a bath with Trinity, crawling through the tunnel with Sydney, playing at the park with Payton and crying when Mommy held Maddie (can we say jealous?) :-)
Trinity shows Ava the ropes, or should I say "rings"...
A happy girl
Cousin fun (notice Trinity is wearing Sydney's shoes)
Madeline, Shelly and Ava: Waking up
Madeline and her Mommy
We stayed with Grandma Pam and Grandpa Bill for the rest of the week, enjoying time with them. We were also able to go to Daymian's 10th birthday party at the Rochester Park. It was the perfect day for a fun party! Ava really enjoyed Grandma Pam's "Dora-mobile" and liked to hear music when she pushed the button, and then dance to it. She's a dancin' queen! When she dances now, she likes to spin in a circle with her hands in the air, shaking her head and upper body from side to side. She perfected going up and down one step, practicing over and over, wherever she was during the week. She now says "yaaay!".
A sleeping baby and one of her fans, Grandma Pam
Jordan, Daymian and friends at his 10th birthday party
Enjoying the nice weather and some pizza
Shelly, Ava, Aunt Sherry, Doug, Grandma Dolly and Grandpa Dean
Ava and Jordan feed the ducks
Daddy, Ava and Jordan at the park
Grandpa Dean showing Ava the world from a different perspective
Aunt Sherry and Ava
Grandpa Dean gives Daymian a big birthday hug
Daymian playing football with some friends
Daddy and Ava
Jordan, Aunt Sherry and Ava walking through the creek
Daymian's Spiderman 3 cake
Our family at the park
Hangin' out at the party
Ava taking a break
She also learned how to use a fork effectively. When feeding strawberries to Ava while in her high chair, she liked to stab the strawberries with a fork (right-handed :-) and eat them. We would clap for her accomplishment. When she stabbed "air" and put the fork in her mouth, she would solicit us for applause and clap for herself, even if she didn't eat a strawberry. Nice try, kiddo!
Ava seemed to learn quite a bit just by watching her older cousins. Trinity has a DEFINITE shoe fetish, which I think Ava picked-up... Now I find Ava trying on my sandals, as well as Doug's. It was too funny to watch how well Trinity walked in my sandals: down steps, in the grass, through the kitchen, etc. It was hard to lose her, hearing her clickety-clacking around in my heels :-) In the picture below of Aunt Tracy and Maddie, look in the background to see how well Trinity walks in heels, namely mine!
Madeline and Aunt Tracy
Grandma Dolly also taught Ava how to bat her eyelashes! I'm not sure how this came to be, but it was hysterical to watch. Ava will sit there and bat her eyelashes five or six times (back at you), if you bat your eyelashes at her. Diva-in-training, I guess you could say! (Unfortunately we didn't get the video on our regular digital camera, so I don't think I can post the eyelash-batting video...)
Ava has been an absolute angel on our long car rides. I was surprised at how well she did, truthfully. We are SO thankful for that! We're glad to be sleeping in our own bed again, but miss the amazing fun and hugs we received throughout the past week.
Sending long-distance hugs your way!
All you need is
Love,
Shelly, Doug and Ava
Ava and Daddy feeding the ducks at the park
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