Ready to Train?

Ava has been doing amazing with her private swim lessons. It was time to get her a cap that actually fit her so the hair stays out of her face. She also got her first pair of goggles! She wanted to run around the house with them. She's been a fan of the Olympic swimming and know who Michael Phelps is. She's ready to train with him!

Strawberry Princess

It was so gorgeous out today! Ava wanted to take her snack outside to eat. She polished off the whole container of strawberries by herself today.

Relay for Life 2012

This year I had a former students' mom make some t-shirts for Ava and I for Relay for Life. Ava's said, "My Papa is..." and mine said, "My Dad is..."

 the back view. Ava was so excited that we had matching shirts.

 The man in the middle is one of the doctors responsible for helping Dad achieve his "SURVIVOR" status! Dad gives him a hard time every time he sees him!

 We made a luminary for Dad to help light the track.

 We had this sign up at our camp site to remember my cousin, Elizabeth, who lost her battle to ovarian cancer at the young age of 21. Elizabeth was 10 months older than me.

 A luminary for Josh, Kaitlin's boyfriend, by our camp site.

 Ava relaxing and taking in the opening ceremony.

 This is my friend, Mary, AKA "Melons." I have known Mary for years and am good friends with her son. He sang at our wedding and I worked at the daycare with Mary. I was able to watch her walk her survivor lap. She is such a fighter and is continuing to fight!

 Josh, Dad and Dad's friend, Donny, walking the survivor lap together.

 The awesome balloon release. We had another great year at Relay for Life. Each year gets a little better!

On our way home we noticed how beautiful the moon was. We went down by the lake to get a picture.

Cupcake Adventure

I pick Ava up from Zivka's right after lunch on Wednesdays. I promised her we'd back cupcakes when we came home. We got home and got to work. My helper put the cupcake liners in the pans and mixed the batter a little by hand.

 Once we got to this step is when we had some issues! Between potty breaks while making the batter, it took a good 25-30 minutes before the cupcakes were ready to go into the oven. I realized I never heard the preheat buzzer go off and the preheat light was still on. I opened the oven door to investigate and discovered the oven was definitely not heating properly. Thank goodness for Glad Press and Seal! We had to cover the uncooked cupcakes and drive over to Kaitlin's house to bake them.

After some unplanned travels, we finally had a finished product! The repair man came the next day and fixed the oven. 

 After a few licks, this was what Ava had left.

Tomatoes Made It to the House!

These are the only tomatoes that have made it into the house this year! Typically, Ava has to check the plants before and after we go somewhere so she can eat the ripe tomatoes. My secret...picking them while Ava naps!

Some Afternoon Fun

After Daddy got home yesterday we walked down to the park at McKinley Elementary School. I'm getting a lot stronger and can do the rings. They are still a little too far apart for my arms so Daddy helps me.

 The slide was fun!

 Once the heavy equipment started rolling off the trailers, the park had to wait! They were filling some sections of asphalt in the street by the park. I wanted to watch the "constructors" work rather than play!  

Minnow Races

Saturday night we went to the St. Mary's Festival and I raced a minnow! Mommy did minnow races at the festival when she was little. 

 Daddy helped me put my fish into its racing lane when the race started.

 Swim, minnow, swim!! My minnow didn't make it much further than in this picture. I think he needed to retire after my race. The young girl that won the race said I could take her prize because there wasn't anything she wanted. Mommy thought it was so sweet that the girl offered me her prize. I was pretty excited to pick out some new toys for the beach.

After the minnow races I played some other games with Mommy and Daddy. Daddy had to hold me up so I could play Plinko!