Beauty and the Beast

Ava: The Beast scares me!
Mom: He is scary, but he has a really good heart.
Ava: Yeah, but he doesn't have a really good face.






Thanksgiving was wonderful... spent in Cincinnati with the Macks and Silbersteins. Ava had a lot of quality time with Cousin Eli and everyone else. It really is such a wonderful holiday. No religious undertones (or overtones) to cloud the message of just being grateful for all of the abundance we have. A little touch of that gratitude daily could do wonders.

I had to add these pictures of Ava & Tyler from her birthday party!

Ava's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Ava's 3rd birthday party on Saturday at Stew Leonard's. Wow the Cow was a big hit and I was especially fond since I'm a sucker for any kind of puppet. Ava had a fantastic time seeing all of her friends in one place, which we rarely get to do anymore. People traveled from far and wide to have fun with all of us and we were extremely grateful.

We came back to the house with Gommy & Jerry for a relaxing afternoon. We're sitting upstairs and I'm trying to convince Ava of the benefits of eating peas.
"Ava, eat your peas. You'll become big and strong."
"Why do I have to be big and strong?"
"Because (pause, pause... time to think...) otherwise the world will stomp on you."
"Let the world stomp on me."
I kid you not.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Wow... blogging is tough to keep up with! Isn't it enough that I upload my pictures to kodakgallery.com super-fast? Now I have also burdened myself with the task of uploading them here? We'll see how long I can keep up with both. For now, it's still fun for me, so I'll continue. We've had a good few weeks since Halloween, when Ava dressed up as her favorite princess, Cinderella. She continues to make us laugh when we least expect it.

One of her latest:
"Mommy, I'm feewing (pronouncing "L" is not her favorite thing) nervous."
"Why, honey?"
"My stepsisters make me nervous."
"Oh baby, you're in character. Don't let them make you nervous, Cinderella. Good always prevails."
"They tore my dress." (I look closely and notice her arm is not in the correct armhole).
"Sweetie, good always wins."
Ends with a hug.